Eternity's End
by DeadeyeDave
Summary: Link had defeated Ganondorf, but history repeats itself, and being sent back in time after he had done so did not stop the evil from rising anew. And when it did, the Hero of Time slew the evil in cold blood. And his actions changed the world forever.
1. Chapter 1

Eternity's End

By DeadeyeDave

Like an endless waltz, the world is forever flirting with destruction and prosperity. Forever in balance between the rise of evil and the salvation of good are the dancers of mortality. Unending struggles that will repeat and reemerge more deadly than before have and will always ravage the universe. Suffering is universal, for no matter the victory in the name of relief there will always be a return of pain to the weary world. To break the cycle of death and rebirth, to achieve the nirvana that comes with sweet release, is a dream that is bitterly impossible to achieve.

The kingdom of Hyrule was enjoying a golden age. Learning, arts, and culture were at a peak. No evils seemed to roam the peaceful lands. The monarchy was beloved, just, and fair. The widowed King of Hyrule ruled with a benevolent hand and was refreshingly open to the thoughts of others. His daughter, the princess Zelda, was enjoying a peaceful childhood. She had, puzzlingly, began a correspondence with a seemingly unremarkable young boy.

This boy, a Kokiri ten years of age, startled the royalty by first boldly sending a simple letter to the Princess, which he delivered himself to the castle. It took the Princess some time to convince the guards and her father of the innocence of this visitor. This boy, Link as he called himself, seemed to know the Princess on a level that amazed many, especially the King. He and Zelda became fast friends, almost as if they had known each other for ages.

This is what the people of Hyrule knew before it happened. After it happened they knew only rumor and what they could assume. I do not blame them. I scarcely believe that what happened did occur. They do not know what they are doing, but if I were in the same position as they I admit that I would act similarly. As it stands, taking into consideration all that has happened of which the public is aware, it would seem overwhelmingly that I murdered the Gerudo ambassador to Hyrule in cold blood, kidnapped the Princess and then, seemingly vanished into thin air with my prisoner. It was assumed that I was a maniac, whose lust for blood was slaked on that of poor ambassador, then the Princess, and finally my own. Theories abounded, but the most widely accepted one is that I, after killing the Gerudo and spiriting away the Princess, went mad, killed her, and then killed myself. This theory was adequate to the masses, even though neither Zelda's body nor mine was ever found. Now, after seven long years, it would seem that the Princess and her captor are alive, and have resurfaced for some unfathomable purpose.

I killed the Gerudo, but I did not kill him on cause of madness. I killed him in perfect clarity of mind. It was in fact the sanest decision I had ever made. There is no way to prove what would have happened, and now, I am tortured with the knowledge that they will never know the truth. To know that one's actions are completely vindicated, that one has done the most important and vital deed in the benefit of humanity, and to be totally misjudged, is the worst fate that a person can endure. My actions have saved the lives of uncountable innocents and the land of Hyrule itself. Those whom I have saved will never know that their salvation came from the bloody blade of a murderous commoner.

I ask not for martyrdom. I ask not to be hailed as a hero for my triumphs, past and present. When I first returned to my own time, I did in fact try to tell the world of my deeds of the future. But none would listen. I don't know why, in my arrogance, I expected them to. The leader of the Gerudos conquering the world? Unleashing unimaginable evil over the land and destroying the whole of society? And you then defeated the menace and saved the world? Impossible.

I soon realized that they would never know the truth. I was humbled. I now do not care if I am a hero. My deeds are never to be known by any save the Princess and myself. She and I share the knowledge of the future, and that is why I acted as I did.

Now once again no one will believe my story. Once again I have made the world a better place, and have been unrecognized. This bothers me not the least. I would do a thousand heroic quests to ensure the safety of the land, and would gladly accept a life of personal misery to ensure the happiness of others. I do not look for sympathy, as I have said, I seek not martyrdom or a name engraved on the consciousness of history. I simply need to here explain what I have done and to prove, perhaps to no one but myself, that I am innocent of all the heinous crimes I am accused of.

I will not go into great detail about my first battle in the future. The prophecy of the rise of evil, the oppression, and the salvation of the land by the Hero of Time is well known to many. This prophecy I have lived through. I am the hero that saved the world from utter destruction. The evil that rose to conquer the world was lead by one man. That man was the Gerudo ambassador that I murdered. Ganondorf.

I do not expect to be believed. But, for better or for worse, this is the truth. If I had not killed Ganondorf in the castle that day, then within seven years the world of Hyrule would be completely overtaken by him and his legions of monstrous warriors. Perhaps now one might understand why I acted as I did.

I survived his ascendance asleep in stasis within the Temple of Time. Upon my awakening I had grown to adulthood. I awoke aged by seven years and in a world ravaged by evil. I was the Hero of Time, the warrior who emerged from the past to save the future. After a struggle of immense proportions, I had vanquished the evil and rescued the Princess, who had survived Gannondorf's rule thanks to her guile and disguise. The world was beyond repair. She, using the legendary Ocarina of Time, sent me back to the peaceful time before. She and I were the only guardians of the knowledge of the fate of the world.

This is the amazing but true story of how Zelda and I came to know each other. As soon as I had returned to my childhood I wrote to her to ask if she remembered, and she had. We made fast friends through correspondence, and I felt finally at peace. When I was a child the first time, I was plagued with apprehension and nightmares, but now with the defeat of Ganon I had found peace.

But history repeats itself.

I awoke one fateful day feeling odd. I had just had a strange dream that I couldn't recall fully. Shaking off the feeling of apprehension I checked my mail and was overjoyed to find another letter from the Princess.

I opened the beautiful envelope and read Zelda's familiar florid script.

"Dearest Link,

I pray that this letter finds you well, for on your wellness the fate of the world may once again depend. It has begun once more. I can sense it. You must hurry. You know what to do. Make haste!

Yours in concern,

Zelda, Princess of Hyrule"

I checked and rechecked the envelope; it did indeed bear the wax seal of the Royal Family. I now knew that my worst fears had come to pass, and that I had to act fast to prevent another catastrophe.

I ran to the closet of my house and grabbed my Deku shield and Kokiri sword, which I had not used since my ascendance to adulthood so long ago. Leaping out of my treetop house I saw my lifelong friend Saria standing on the ground waving.

"Hey Link! Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"No time to talk Saria! This is urgent!" I replied hastily. I ran past the bewildered Kokiri and towards the Great Deku Tree.

Just as I reached the entrance to the glade where the Tree was, I saw a light floating towards me. As it came into view I recognized the familiar form of my errant fairy Navi, who had left me after my defeat of Ganon.

"Navi! Looking for me?" I called to her.

"Umm...why yes! How do you know who I am? And where are you going so fast?"

"No time! Come with me!"

Navi, clearly puzzled, followed me towards the path to the Great Deku Tree.

"How do you know that the Deku Tree needs to see you?" she shouted after me.

"It's a long story," I gasped as I ran. "Very long story."

"Well, no matter, let's go!"

I ran past Mido. He shouted but I couldn't be bothered to listen to him.

I broke through the trees into the glen of the Deku Tree and saw he looked very ill. Now it had been confirmed.

It was happening again. I had to stop it.

"Link..." The Deku Tree spoke in a booming voice.

"Yes! I know of the Goddesses and the Triforce! I must hasten to stop the Gerudo!"

Even the Tree was amazed at my preternatural foresight. "Young one...you can see the future..."

"It's a long story," I answered dryly.

"You know what you are doing. Go quickly, my child..."

I turned to leave but Navi interrupted me.

"You can't leave the Deku Tree like this! He's very sick! You have to help!"

I sighed. "Ok...how to put this...there's a giant creature inside him, and he's going to die soon. I can't help him."

"WHAT?" She was understandably amazed. "But...we have to try..."

"Listen Navi, we have much bigger problems. We have to go!"

I ran off towards the exit of the woods. On the bridge I saw, as I knew I would see, Saria holding an ocarina.

"I'll take that, Saria," I said, barely breaking stride.

"What? You're going? How did you know I wanted to give this to you?"

"It's a long story," said Navi, taking a hint.

"Right. I have to go now. Goodbye. I will meet you again."

With that I grabbed the Fairy Ocarina and ran out into Hyrule Field. I felt a pang of sorrow for my rude departure, but in my heart I knew that I could waste no time.

Heading straight for Lon Lon Ranch I ran. It was about an hour of hard travel before I made it to the ranch, but I knew that I would soon be able to rest awhile.

I ran to the horse pasture and heard a familiar voice singing a familiar song.

"Hey Malon, I need a horse. There he is!" I ran straight for Epona.

"Wh...what? Who are you? How do you know my name? What do you think you're doing?"

I mounted the young Epona. "It's a long story," said Navi and myself at once.

"You...you can't just...come back!" I began galloping off.

"I'll explain later! Gotta go!" I cried as I charged over the fence surrounding the ranch and leapt over it. The horse, as before, had taken a liking to me right from the start. I spurred him into action and we raced toward Hyrule Market Town and the castle.

I raced up to the gate and dismounted still moving, running full speed towards the castle. I shoved past the crowds gathered in the market, past the old woman who was worried of the future, past the couple embracing by the fountain, and across to the path leading to the castle.

I saw the huge white gate and ran to one of the guards.

"It is I, Link. I must see the Princess," I gasped to the befuddled guard.

"Err..sorry, but no one can be admitted to the castle at this time. There is a very important meeting between the King and the Emissary of the Gerudos going on right now.

I nearly fainted. It was too late. Ganondorf had entered the castle and was now winning the heart of the King.

I knew what to do. Muttering a reply I wandered off back towards the town, then found on the hillside the very vines that I had climbed when I first entered the castle. Climbing these, I snuck over the guard posts and past the patrols. I had done this before, and I knew where the guards would be. Moving much more quickly than the first time I reached the inner part of the castle, crawling through the water pipe into the courtyard.

I ran silently past the guards there, knowing where they would be. Finally I had made it to the inner sanctum. I saw Zelda standing there waiting for me.

"Oh, Link, thank the goddesses you're here..." she ran and embraced me, and I could feel her fear.

"It's all right. We can stop it. Where is he?"

"He's kneeling before the King now," she whispered.

"Who? What's going on?" said Navi.

"It's a long story," Zelda and I replied in unison.

"What are you going to do?" said Zelda, trembling.

"The only thing I can do. We have to end this now."

Sensing my intent Zelda gasped. "No...you can't...you'll never make it..."

"Don't worry about me."

"Oh...Link...please..." she had begun to silently weep. I comforted her.

"Don't be afraid. Go! Quickly!"

She nodded. "I will meet you outside the castle."

"What? No! You can't come with me! You have to stay here..."

"I must go with you. You and I are the only ones who know what will happen...and if I'm with you perhaps they won't..." she trailed off, but I got her point. Perhaps if we stuck together we would have a better chance of escaping.

"You are sure you don't want to stay here? You want to give up your whole life for me?"

She looked at me solemnly. "For you, and for all of the world," she answered. With that, she turned and left.

I was ready. I feared not death or pain, but only that Ganondorf would live longer than that day. I ran.

I jumped shoulder first into the ornate stained glass of the castle window. Shards of glass surrounded me like a hurricane and I rolled, sliced on my arms and legs, into the throne room. Wiping the pieces of glass from my face I saw the sight I dreaded. Ganondorf, his face smug and confident, kneeling before the King of Hyrule. I had to act.

Before the King or Ganondorf could react I pounced, drew my sword, and plunged it into the back of the evil Gerudo.

He gagged, coughed blood, and before he could turn to see who had attacked him he slumped over and fell. Blood began to pool around him. For a fraction of a second I gazed into the eyes of the King, startled and amazed, as they slowly turned to anger. Then, heart pounding and nerves tingling, I ran.

I had not gotten far when I heard the King bellow for his guards. I tried to pick some of the glass out of my hands to help me escape, and as I ran I heard the cacophony of armored warriors running behind me. An arrow grazed the side of my head and I clamped my hand to the spot. I looked at my hand and saw it streaked with blood. Undaunted I ran on, and heard the 'thwipp' of another arrow being shot. As I turned a corner I felt a piercing pain in my right arm. Unable to move it any more I looked down and saw the bloodied shaft of an arrow piercing my bicep just above my elbow. Yelping with pain I ran on, up a flight of stairs and around another corner. I entered a bedchamber and slammed the door behind me, gasping with pain and exhaustion.

Barring the door with a heavy oaken chair I looked around for an escape route but found only a window. Looking down at a terrifying drop I considered making a rope out of the sheets of the bed in the room. But I heard soon the sounds of footsteps and the armored guards bashing into the wooden door. I turned to the window and jumped.

A second later I landed with a painful jolt in a hedgerow of bushes. Bruised and bleeding from my head I managed to run, just as I heard the sound of the guards breaking into the room.

I rounded a corner and kept running, almost fainting from exhaustion and blood loss. I ran and ran, over the gardens and towards the moat. I jumped into the water and began to swim across. Hampered by my wounded arm I barely managed to make it across, and at the moment I climbed out of the murky waters I saw a line of archers on a parapet above me. The sounds of numerous arrows being fired pierced the air, and I ran once more toward the gates of Hyrule Market. Arrows embedded themselves in the ground around me, and one caught me in the side. I gasped and cried in pain but managed to keep going. Totally exhausted, wounded in a dozen places and punctured with two arrows I staggered on, blood soaking my green clothing. I saw Zelda hiding in the tall grass just outside of town.

"Zelda," I panted. "I did it."

"Link! Are you...oh dear goddesses! You're..." She gasped at the sight of my wounds.

"I'm all right. Lets go!"

Racing with her, on my last ounces of strength, I ran through the town, taking the back streets and quietly sneaking out past the guardhouse.

There I found Epona waiting for me. I jumped on the horse and with the best strength I could muster I began to ride, Zelda clinging to my back.

"We'll hide in the Lost Woods. I know a spot where we'll be safe."

Zelda nodded and began to cry softly. I tried to reassure her.

"I've lived through worse than this. I survived the touch of pure evil!"

She laughed. "So you did. Is Ganondorf...dead?"

"I think so. I got him in the back."

"Link...you have made the greatest sacrifice I have ever seen a person make."

"Think nothing of it."

We rode on in silence and peace. As we approached the path to the Lost Woods I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. I saw Zelda looking back at her home, and I saw lights and commotion in the city.

"I can never go back there...," she whispered sadly, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Yes you can. It will all be well in the end."

I tried to comfort her, and she felt better as we walked into the woods, but in my mind I doubted that our lives would ever be the same. As the sun sank below the horizon I felt that my life, and poor Zelda's, was sinking with it. A new chapter in our destinies was beginning. 


	2. Chapter 2

As the sun began to set I spurred Epona into a trot as we entered the dark cover of the woods. I considered heading to my home for supplies but realized that by this time, word of my attack would have reached the forest. The Royal Guard had many methods of communication, including magical and mundane means. I knew that by this time, nowhere was safe. 

We came to a glen in the woods. I dismounted and helped Zelda do so, and then let Epona graze for a bit. I felt as though I could sleep for a year, but I knew I would have to do something to keep us warm. Gathering twigs and branches for kindling I soon had a fire lit. I collapsed by the fire and was ready to sleep when Zelda approached me.

"Let me help you. Your wounds need to be bound, or something..."

I was too tired to object. Zelda began to tear her sleeves and hems of her dress into bandages and wrapped my hands. By this time the bleeding had subsided, but the wounds still were excruciating. The arrows in my side and my arm were a dull ache. After binding my other wounds she seemed to hesitate.

"Go ahead, I'll bite a stick," I told her, grabbing a length of wood and putting it in my mouth.

"I...I don't think...I'll try," she said, hesitantly. She grabbed the arrow in my arm and tugged, causing me amazing pain. I clamped down on the stick in my mouth but said nothing. Finally she had removed the arrow, dried blood everywhere on the shaft and head. Quickly she tied a tourniquet around the spot as blood began to flow from the hole. After a similar treatment she had removed the second arrow and tied a bandage around my waist.

"Zelda, you're amazing!" I knew that Zelda was educated in the arts of healing but her skill surpassed everything I ever thought possible.

"I learned a lot as Sheik..." she replied.

I had been thinking a lot about that. I wondered how she felt, and how I felt, about the experiences we had shared together. How would we live with the past and the future as one?

"What was it like while I was asleep?" I inquired.

"It was hard. I was a wanted woman. I couldn't stay in one place too long. I grew up so fast..." She sounded so sad I couldn't help but feel sorry.

"I never knew...you went through so much," I answered, trying to express what I was feeling. "You made such a sacrifice..."

"No," she said, looking into my eyes. "My suffering is nothing beside yours. Don't worry about it." She seemed to be cheering up.

I lay with her in silence for a while, looking at her. I felt great sorrow for her. She had now twice been put to flight, been exiled from her rightful place. I admired her courage and her determination, and how much she had gone through. I think that she was thinking the same things about me then, too. I felt something else for her then, but I think I couldn't really understand it at that time.

"Why did you come with me?" I asked, still not really sure.

"I have to. I couldn't stay there."

"But why? If you're worried about me you could always stay and defend me later, when I'm on trial or something..."

"No. I couldn't help you that way. They would never listen to me. You and I are the only ones who know what we are doing, and we have to stay together. If I didn't come with you, you'd have died for me, and I couldn't live with that."

"For you," I answered, "and for all the world."

She laughed, and I felt a great weight lifted from my heart. "You have the strangest memory, Link!"

"What do you think we should do?"

"Well," she mused, "we could go back and try to explain..."

"No, that would never work. We can't go back," I said grimly. There was no chance to explain now. We had done the deed, and there was no turning back.

I was too tired to keep talking. Murmuring a goodnight I lay on my good side and was soon sound asleep.

I awoke with the sun, as I am wont to do. My whole body, especially my arm and my side, ached from my exertion the previous day.

"You're up?" said Zelda, who was cooking something on the fire.

"I should say the same to you! Why didn't you tell me you were making breakfast?"

"You were asleep, silly!"

I sidled over and saw she was grilling some strips of meat on a stick. I saw a flayed rabbit beside her.

"You caught that? Before I woke up?" I asked, astounded.

"Sure! We have to eat, don't we?"

"Zelda, you never cease to amaze me. I didn't know you were so good at roughing it."

"Oh, these are just things you have to learn...I did when I was on the run."

"Well, I'll be...you're definitely not the spoiled, pampered princess type are you?"

She laughed. "Oh no. I like it out here. It's nice to be pampered, but it's more rewarding to do it yourself."

It was interesting talking with her, because she was, like me, wise beyond her years. She was a young girl just ten years old, but she had lived through seventeen and had retained that knowledge. It was an interesting experience being a seventeen-year-old in a child's body. Anyone who could have heard us would have been amazed by the intellect of these children.

"I've lived that way my whole life, and I've never gotten tired of it. Here, let me help," I offered. Even though my wounds were a dull throb, I felt free and happy. Perhaps everything will be all right...

"Okay, you can cook this one." She gave me another strip of meat and I began to roast it, enjoying the hearty smell.

"Well, I was going to ask you last night," she said, "but what shall we do now? We're fugitives."

"I don't know...perhaps..." I was thinking hard but I couldn't figure out a plan. If I returned with her, she and I would suffer. "You should have stayed, Zelda. Now all of Hyrule will be looking for us."

Zelda paused, concerned. "You're right, Link...but...Link, I can't let you go through this alone. I wouldn't have left you for anything in the world."

Comforted, I sat down to eat. "Well, there is one thing we can do."

"What is that," she asked me.

"Escape to the future."

"What? What do you mean?"

"No matter where we go in Hyrule now, we will be found, eventually. We can't escape them for long. I think that if we go back to the Temple of Time the Door will still be open. We can sleep, and when we awake perhaps the world will have forgotten, or I could return with you and explain."

"Do you really think...that we should? What if they find us?"

"They won't. We will be frozen in the Sacred Realm. You know...you're the expert on this, remember?" I tried to lighten the mood.

"Yeah...well, then its settled. I think that it's our only hope."

We finished our meal in silence. Navi, who had kept uncharacteristically quiet the whole time, now chimed in. "What's this Temple you're talking about? What do you mean, sleep to the future?"

Zelda did the honors. "Its a long story."

"We had better go," I told her. We saddled Epona again and rode off cautiously.

We took a winding route hugging the forest, to avoid being spotted. I knew the way in, and we managed to sneak into the town without detection. I suppose that the guard expected us to be somewhere else, but the town still buzzed with the news. We reached the Temple safely.

"Okay, let's go in," I said to her. We entered the temple and I recognized the Triforce motifs and designs everywhere. I looked at the Door of Time and saw that the three Spiritual Stones still remained there.

"Why are the stones still in place?" I asked.

"This temple is like an anchor in time. The temple will not change...so the stones are still here. We're in luck."

"See, you do know about this stuff!"

We ascended the steps and neared the Pedestal of Time. I took Zelda by the hand and stepped up to the Master Sword embedded there.

"Ready?" I asked her.

"Ready," she answered.

I gripped the sword, gave a tug, and sealed my destiny.

Light flared around me. Zelda stood calm, her robes and long hair blown about in the vortex of energy. I looked to the ceiling and all went quiet.

Outside us the world sped by. The search for the fugitive and his hostage dragged on and on, until the captor and the Princess were deemed irretrievable. A funeral for her was held. The King continued his reign heirless, despondent, and grim. And outside of his tiny world, out in the flux of the lands of Hyrule, new and dangerous things began to arise. The golden age faded. The Gerudos were enraged at the death of their ambassador but did not direct hostilities at the Hyrulians immediately. Instead, they waited, and watched, for seven long years, slowly building their strength under a mysterious new leader, and by the time we emerged they were ready. They held enough in their grasp to finally take their revenge on the people of the world...

I awoke slowly, calmly. Around me was the bluish light and energy of the Sacred Realm. I turned and saw Zelda slowly coming to as well. I carefully touched her face and she fluttered to life. Looking around she saw where she was and gasped.

"Did it...work?" she whispered, and then stopped, noticing the change in her voice.

"Yes, it did. Have you been in the Sacred Realm before?" I answered, checking my adult body.

"NOW WAIT A MINUTE!" yelled Navi, who was understandably freaking out. "The hell just happened? I came with you to a big white temple, and now we're in a big blue place! And you...you're older! Both of you! What is going on here?"

"It's a long story," said a voice.

I turned and saw before me a man clad in large red robes. He had a long white beard and white hair, and exuded an aura of wisdom and experience. I recognized him with some difficulty.

"Rauru? That you?"

"Yes, child. I have once again watched over you. You have done the right thing by stopping the Gerudo lord from his conquest."

For a moment it didn't register, but I realized that he seemed to know as much as I did about Ganondorf.

"How do you know that?" I asked him. He smiled.

"Think not that you and the Princess are the only ones who have retained the memory of the future. You two do not share that burden by yourselves. I too know the dire fate that would have beset Hyrule if you had not acted as you did."

"So...you can help us?" asked Zelda.

"With all my power. You have defeated a great demon, but he has splintered into a thousand smaller evils that shall, with time, reassemble to the whole."

"What do you mean?" said Zelda; stepping out of the platform she had awoken on.

"Gannondorf's followers have not forgotten his death. Even now they plot revenge. Soon they will accomplish what he sought to in life."

"Who is their leader now?" I inquired.

"Alas, it seems that fate has conspired to repeat the events that were meant to come to pass. Their leader was not native-born, of course. That would have taken another 100 years. But a man came out of the west. He was young, about your age, I think, when the Gerudo found him. He grew to become their leader. His charisma and determination seem to be illimitable. He showed boundless grief for the loss of Ganondorf. And now, as the only male in the tribe, I think that the Gerudo use him as a proxy for their beloved leader. He is Ganon's spiritual avatar. Even in death he could not be stopped, I fear..."

I took in slowly all that the sage had said. It dawned on me that perhaps I would never escape the cycle: the past and the future constantly changing, being recycled forever. So it might be forever...

"Who is this new leader?" Zelda asked tentatively.

"He seems to be of the ancient Hylian bloodline, as you and Link are," responded Rauru, stroking his beard. "But he does not hail from these lands. He is from somewhere beyond the known lands of Hyrule, somewhere in the trackless wastes of the Gerudo desert. He is like you, Link, most, I think, but somehow twisted into an evil and dark form. He is called Verletz of Leiden, Archon of Din. He is their most exalted leader."

"Archon of Din? That's...that's the highest rank of the clergy of Din! How did he become such a powerful leader of both the church and the Gerudo nation?" I gasped.

"No one knows what it is about him, but he seems to exude power and grace as none have seen before. In seven short years he had rose from abandoned child to one of the most influential people in Hyrulian politics in the history of this land."

"What are we to do?" asked Zelda.

"Your objective now becomes twofold. You must first and foremost stop the Gerudo threat, for if you do not, I fear that Gannondorf's evil will live and retake the world."

"Yes, of course," answered Zelda.

"Secondly," Rauru continued, "if you wish to save yourselves...you must prove that the killing of Ganondorf was justified. How you will do this is beyond my knowledge. If you can prove Gannondorf's evil intent, then you can redeem yourselves. And because his evil lives on in the heart of Verletz, to defeat his spirit, you must defeat the Archon as well..." Rauru's head seemed to sink. "A task...I fear may be impossible."

"Nothing," I responded, "is impossible. We shall fight the forces of evil with every ounce of life we posses, and we shall save this land...no matter the cost."

Zelda nodded silently, but in her eyes I could see a determination that matched my own. She never was very talkative to anyone-except me, actually- but she, without words, showed infinite courage and willingness.

I glanced down at my arm, and saw a round scar there-the first wound that I had suffered for the good of the world. I wondered, when it was over, how many there would be...

Rauru smiled. "You words fill me with hope, children. I will send you to a safe haven where you can decide what you will do. May the Goddesses bless your flight!" He gestured, and a portal of light emerged before us. Zelda and I exchanged looks, entered, and were transported across the land.

Time twisted to accommodate our passage, like a sinuous serpent writhing from a blow. Endless eons and illimitable space flashed around us. A frightening blur of sights and sounds began to swirl ahead. In that blur, scenes flashed before me- scenes I knew. It showed a view from my own eyes of a strange landscape. It gradually dawned on me that it was the inside of Jabu-Jabu of the Zora, where I had been to save the Princess Ruto seven...no, now it must be fourteen years ago...scenes spanned and whirled in and out of being so fast it was hard to keep track of them, but I managed to. They were showing my journey through the giant whale in segments. First my meeting with the Zora princess inside, then battles with the monsters that lived there. Then it showed the terrifying creature that guarded the Spiritual Stone of Water, the bio-electric anemone that I had later learned was called Barinade, that jellylike monstrosity that I took such pains to overcome. At one point it lashed me with a tentacle across the chest, knocking me flat...thankfully, this montage of scenes was fairly short, and my vision returned to a phantasmagoric panorama of blurry colors and shapes...

Slowly the frightful mass coalesced into a single blurred, if recognizable, image. It was a ceiling---an unfamiliar one, but at least something recognizable. It looked brownish-black and made of stone. I tried moving. It worked.

Beside me was a small wooden nightstand with a candle burning on it. The room I was in was furnished simply- a small rug on the floor, a dresser, some designs on the wall. From the designs and the look of the rug I guessed we were in a Goron home of some kind, but couldn't imagine why Rauru thought this would be a good place to go to.

Turning over I saw the rest of the largish bed I seemed to be in, with a mysterious lump in it...

I prodded the lump, which groaned and flipped over, right onto me. The weight caused a dull pain in my chest that didn't seem normal. I peeled off a few layers of blankets.

"Unnhh...wha...where..."

Zelda, looking rather disoriented, stuck her head out from the mass of blankets. I'd never even seen her looking so unkempt...or from so close up. Before she'd been a great friend, but we were just kids, nothing romantic. Though I always wondered...

"Hmm Zel, fancy seeing you here," I joked, shoving her off of me. I soon regretted doing this, because it made the pain in my chest reappear. I'd been transported several times before the first time I'd been on a quest, and it hadn't made me feel like that, or given me those strange visions of past experiences...

"Oh...Link? Oh my goodness...that was wild..." She sank back onto the bed. "I feel all funny...I'm covered in sweat, and my legs feel sore...is that normal? I've never been...teleported like that before."

"It's not...something must have gone wrong..." I mused. I rolled over, painfully, to look at her. She looked terribly flustered. She brushed back some hair from her face.

"What...what are we doing here? In bed?" she asked, quite justified.

"I was going to ask YOU..." I returned, just as confused as she was.

"And I was gonna ask you BOTH!" said someone. I noticed a section of blanket beginning to shine. I threw it off the bed and lo and behold, Navi had been invited along for the ride. "I'm really not following this, but I'm guessing it's a long story..."

I was about to answer when suddenly I felt very strange. I hit the bed and saw Zelda's face over me, looking worried. She said something, but the words were indistinct...

Suddenly I was on my back, but no longer looking at the ceiling of the cavern room...I was looking at the sky, black with angry storm clouds and pouring rain. I struggled to my feet and looked about, and something about the scene looked oddly familiar. I recognized it- it was the outside walls of Hyrule Town, and beside me was a drawbridge. I knew this scene well...it was burned with magic fire into my brain...the magic fire of the evil warlock Ganondorf. Sure enough, I turned around, and saw his black horse retreating into the darkness of the night. I turned and knew exactly what to do---get the Ocarina. I didn't know why I was here or what it meant, but getting that treasured artifact seemed just as important this time as the last. I dived into the moat and opened my eyes to search for the Ocarina on the bottom, when...

My eyes opened, and there was Zelda's face again, looking more worried than before. I blinked...now, my hair seemed damp. This was rapidly getting weird...

"Link? Are you...what...what happened? You just blanked out for about 15 seconds there..." Zelda seemed as confused as me.

"I don't know. I think...I had some kind of vision...or out-of-body experience...I felt like I was back...back right after I saw you fleeing on horseback from the castle. Right after Ganondorf...shot me..." I felt my body. I felt just as I did in the vision---sore all over from the magic he had used on me. Especially sore was my chest, still---suddenly I realized something. Being inside Jabu-Jabu came, sequentially, just before I had seen Zelda and Impa fleeing the castle. I felt my chest again, and slowly removed my shirt.

"Whoa there," said Navi, being obnoxious. "Nothing...inappropriate now!"

"Shaddap you," I smiled, swatting at the glowing orb of light near my head.

"Not that you'd be averse to that, would you?" Zelda giggled.

Yikes.

Light, witty...kinda friendly, fun flirty comment...or was it?

"Oh come on guys! I'm checking something..." I flushed red a little...I've never been really confidant around girls, growing up in the forest I didn't have a very typical childhood. I was so naïve...but that all changed quickly.

I examined my chest, and sure enough, there was a large ugly bruise right where I had thought I saw Barinade strike me with its huge, rough tentacle. It felt sick...

"Oh Goddesses Link! What is THAT?" gasped Zelda, understandably alarmed.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out...Zelda, when we were being transported here, what did you see around you?" I asked.

"It was very strange...I saw scenes from my life just before I had to flee the castle. I saw you as a boy meeting me in the courtyard...then right after that I saw Impa waking me up out of bed that night in the rain, taking me with her to the stables and onto a horse...and then, you again, standing by the side of the road to the castle gates. I saw myself throwing the Ocarina of Time into the moat...then...it went to a strange blur that didn't register as anything.

"This is too weird..."

"Wait...I remember in the visions, my legs were getting sore from riding the horse...at least that's what I remember it feeling like. And I was dripping wet from the rain, and sweat. And now, here I am...and I'm still damp." A look of realization flashed onto her face.

"And I got this big bruise from a monster striking me in my vision that I had while teleporting...somehow, what happens in the visions seem to affect us here..."

"That's scary..." Zelda seemed frightened for a moment, and then shrugged it off. "Hopefully that's the last of it..." She stood, with some effort, and got out of bed. I followed, looking around. The door to the room was to the left of the bed and was closed. I noticed Zelda was wearing different clothes. She was dressed in a brown-and-green tunic with nondescript leggings and a dull cloak- quite a change from the royal robes she was in just moments ago. I looked down at myself, and I was clad similarly, although my possessions were still there. I found the Master Sword still attached to my back, and all my valuables and money still in place. We hadn't been robbed...so what were we doing here?


	3. Chapter 3

Just then the door creaked open and a Goron waddled into the room. He looked young and vigorous, and carried a backpack and a short spear strapped to his back. Ducking to let his spear in he entered the room and quietly shut the door. 

"Who..." I began.

"Never mind that," the Goron answered, grabbing me by the arm. "You and the girl need to move, fast."

Zelda, who had been investigating the small and rather cramped chamber, turned. "What's going on?"

"Forget that!" the Goron whispered sharply, gesturing. "We've got to go. I'm guessing you don't have anything on you..."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I have all my possessions still with me, just a different set of clothes..."

"They...they let you keep your things?" The Goron seemed flabbergasted. "You...you've got a sword there and everything...why didn't they take it from you?"

"Who? Who would have taken it?" Zelda demanded, confused.

"Them! The Gerudos! You were captured, weren't you? What cell are you from, anyway?"

"What are you TALKING about?" shouted Navi, who had been flying about the room, exploring.

"QUIET!" The Goron snapped. "Let me check if it's safe. You two hide in case there's guards outside, that way if they spot me they'll kill just me, and not you two..."

I didn't bother to protest, but grabbed Zelda's arm and ducked under the bedspread. I heard the door creaking open again, and a few moments later the Goron saying, "All clear! Quick!"

I darted out of the bed and peered out the door to see the Goron standing a few feet down a long, torch-lit hallway. "Come on! They're overhead... We can't go up the stairs, we'll have to go tunnel way. Hurry!"

I started after the Goron at a jog, Zelda behind me. We ran down the hall a ways until the Goron stopped abruptly. On the wall was a curious design showing the paw-print tattoo that the Gorons have on their arms. He began feeling the wall.

"I'll find the catch in a minute, you two keep watch!" the Goron whispered to us. I walked a few paces down the hallway before I stopped quickly.

I head voices speaking, and footsteps. Stopping Zelda with my arm I stood perfectly still and listened. I managed to make out several female voices. They were chatting about this and that, nothing important. I heard them mention Verletz's name and shuddered. I realized these must be Gerudo warriors under his command. Then without warning they turned the corner and spotted us.

One drew a curved Gerudo scimitar and shouted to her comrades to help. They noticed us as well and whirled around. Zelda gave a short gasp, but held her ground behind me. I drew the Master Sword from its sheath...the first time I had done so in this life...

The two other Gerudo drew their blades and began to advance down the hallway. The Goron looked up and barked some kind of Goron oath unfamiliar to me. He rose to his feet and drew his spear, looking me in the eyes.

"I've almost found the catch to the door here, but we've got company, if you haven't noticed..." he muttered.

"Zelda! Get back into the room and lock the door!" I didn't bother to check if she had gone, but ran full on at the first Gerudo, Navi bravely flying ahead to help me target and battle the warriors. She and I shared the emphatic link of a Kokiri and his fairy. I sensed and felt what she did, which made her help invaluable in combat.

The Gerudo was already halfway towards us when I met her, and in one quick movement she had parried my thrust and sent me screeching to a halt, careful of the blade.

I felt myself returning into the battle rhythm of my former days---the sweet dance of combat that I had found myself drawn into so many times before. It actually felt good to be at it again. It had been a while since I had needed to draw my blade, and in truth I wondered if I had become out of practice. I had thought, at one point a few days...no, seven years ago, that I wouldn't need to fight anymore...I guess I was wrong.

The Gerudo's scimitar cut a wide arc before me, and I raised my shield quickly to block the blow. I lunged with my shield arm, pinning the Gerudo's blade against the wall. With a gasp she tried to wrench it out, but I was already on the attack. Jabbing at her torso with my sword, she dodged one thrust, and then another, before I finally grazed her midsection. Blood seeped through her garment.

Releasing her weapon the Gerudo backed away, while another began to advance. Removing my shield from the wall, the scimitar fell to the ground with a clang.

The second Gerudo wielded two blades, whirling them quickly before me. One slashing blow I deflected with my own sword, but at the same time her other blade pinned my shield away from my body. She whirled upwards with a deft kick to my ribs that knocked me back a step, then as she landed, the blades flashed before me. Before I could ready my shield, the scimitar came slashing downward, diagonally across my torso. I had taken hits before, and I knew how to react to minimize the damage from them. Bending back on reflex alone, I felt the razor-sharp edge of her curved falchion graze across my body, and I felt an intense line of pain burn across my chest. Instinctively clamping a hand to my torso I felt warm blood seep onto my arm. A shallow cut, perhaps, but quite painful---and bloody. Though painful, the wound was minor compared to what would have befallen me had I not been able to dodge the blow's force. I scowled.

The Goron set his spear at my side, cautiously stepping forward to engage the Gerudo. She advanced, confidant with the success of her attack. A series of thrusts and parries ensued, with the Goron's spear aiding in my defense.

Deftly swinging her dual scimitars, the Gerudo had me backing up. However, for a moment her gaze left the spear of the Goron, who then chose that moment to advance alongside me, taking my place. The Gerudo stepped back from the spear's advancing point, and then wildly hacked at the tip with one blade, shoving it to the side, and lunged with the other.

The Goron braced against the oncoming body. The scimitar's edge buried itself in the shoulder of the Goron, who let out a yelp of pain. Dark, nearly-black Goron blood began to ooze from the wound, but amazingly the creature seemed little harmed.

The Gerudo, however, had not fared as well: in the moment of her strike, I extended my sword arm into her from behind the Goron. The Master Sword, set against her charge, had ran her through on her own momentum. Pulling the blade out, she fell to the ground.

"Get back to the door," I gasped to the Goron. "I'll hold them off...get the catch!"

The Goron saw another Gerudo to be advancing, and as he turned, dexterously threw his spear towards her. In a single shocked instant, the Gerudo had been impaled by the sheer force of the throw. He gave a nod, backing up to work on the door.

Another Gerudo began to advance, stepping over her friends' bodies. With a heavy overhand chop she practically sundered my shield in two. I struck back, but her nimble reflexes stopped my thrust with her blade.

Dodging and weaving, I maneuvered closer to the warrior. I knew the Gerudo's fighting style came from their nimble blows and the reach of their weapons. Ramming from below with my shield, keeping the sword within my vision, I pushed her back. She swung at me, but my charge had knocked her off-balance. With a quick chop I had dealt a fatal blow to the woman. She staggered back, into the arms of two more of her allies.

The Gerudo are famous for not dealing compassionately with the wounded, and they let their friend hit the ground with a thud. I swallowed hard. While not totally out of practice, I hadn't been in a real battle since the end of my adventure, and I feared that these well-trained warriors were too much for me...

My doubt manifested itself quickly. With blinding speed one of the Gerudos struck my shield, and the other thrust forward. Barely moving out of the way in time I felt another piercing slash at my side. I was losing it.

Blood loss and exhaustion began to take their toll. I feebly tried to fend off their blows. In another instant, I saw a whirlwind of dancing feet and felt a sharp kick to my head. Stumbling and falling, I collapsed, now seeing blood beginning to trickle from my hairline.

Struggling to breathe and fearing for my life, I looked up through the haze of pain and saw the Gerudo warrior who had been battling me smirk, and heft her scimitar. Helpless to resist I watched her raise the blade high over her head...

...She then suddenly stopped. A look of shock spread across her face, which was rapidly turning pale.

An arrow was embedded in her throat. She crumpled to the ground with a wheezing gasp.

Turning my head I saw Zelda, already nocking another arrow into my Fairy Bow...

The other Gerudo, open-mouthed, turned to run. I realized she would soon have raised the alarm, and I was in no condition to continue to battle. She let out a cry of warning, only to be cut down from behind with a twing of a released bowstring and the dull thunk of the arrow penetrating the base of her neck.

"Good, good," the Goron remarked. "Here is the catch. Quick! Come! Someone is sure to have heard that! Fast!" The Goron pressed a portion of the rock wall and a large rectangle of it seemed to sink in a few inches, then slide apart. The Goron plunged into the darkness. Zelda ran to my side and hefted me by the shoulders. I staggered to my feet and looked at her. She held the Fairy Bow in one hand, the other, its fingertips dipped in my blood. I locked eyes with her for a brief moment, then grabbed her by the wrist and ducked my way into the dark hole in the wall, just as I heard the sounds of numerous feet above our heads.

* * *

Seconds after the rock had closed behind us, a platoon of Gerudo foot soldiers arrived in the corridor to the sight of three dead bodies. Behind them entered a tall teen, who bore the delicate features and long ears of the ancient Hylian race. His head was wrapped in a Gerudo-style turban from under which shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair flowed gracefully. A white cloth scarf, similar to those that used to be worn by the Sheikah, concealed the lower half of his face. He wore the loose robes of the desert traveler, dyed dark red and black. A light breastplate covered his chest, and around his neck was a short golden chain. On the chain, the golden outline of a Triforce with each of the three triangles empty---except for the top one, which was filled in with gold and inlaid with brilliant ruby. 

The mark of Din.

He strode into the hall and surveyed the damage---he recognized the spear the still protruded from the dead Gerudo to be of Goron making. The arrow shafts that had killed the others were like none he had previously seen...

His eyes narrowed at the sight of the slaughter. Something tingled in his consciousness---something was near to him that he sought, that he had been seeking for ages. Some magical bond, stronger than any mortal connection, flared suddenly stronger.

"Lord Verletz, what are your orders?

An unseen smile passed across his hidden lips. "They're close..."

He paused. "Spread out and find them! They can't have gone far..."

His minions quickly began to search the corridor and the rest of the area. Alone, he held his gauntleted arm up.

"Soon they will be mine..." he murmured.

A faint glow appeared on the gauntlet-the top triangle of a Triforce...

I plunged into the darkness, Zelda in hand, following the sounds of the Goron's footsteps. For such a bulky, massive creature, the Goron moved with surprising swiftness and quiet, and I had to strain my ears to follow him. There was no light in the passageway, and the Goron didn't have a torch, so it was blind groping following him. Navi's natural glow was barely illuminating a few inches ahead of her.

After what seemed like ages of following him through the twisted, narrow passages, I ran into him, Zelda then bumping blindly into me.

"Oof! What's going on?" she whispered.

Navi investigated, and shed some feeble rays on the Goron, who was stopped at what looked like a dead end. Silently, swiftly, he began examining the wall, and in no time had found a hidden catch. The door slid open and the Goron gestured us into the room after it.

What we saw was a sight that I recognized easily: the inside of the Goron city of Death Mountain. It looked basically the same as it had when I had last seen it-on my other adventure, in another timeline, another universe somewhere far away-or was it closer than I knew? There was no way to tell.

Below us many Gorons of all shapes and sizes moved about. It had all the appearances of a major surface city, but something about it seemed hidden, furtive. Everyone below us looked like they were constantly listening for something, but no one knew what to listen for. It was remarkably quiet.

Zelda, who had never to my knowledge been to Death Mountain before, whispered to me "What is this place?"

I whispered back, "It's the Goron city inside Death Mountain, the same as it was before...but everyone's acting different..."

"Different?" the Goron asked. "Before? What do you mean?"

"It's a long..." I began.

"Don't..." Zelda interrupted, with a look.

"All right...never mind," I told the Goron offhandedly.

Finally at ease after the long harrowing run through the dark secret passage, the surge of adrenaline I had felt before began to subside. I became suddenly, painfully aware of my injuries, which were feeling more and more severe as we walked. Drying blood soaked and caked the torn edges of my tunic. Fortunately, Zelda was unhurt, and the Goron's injury seemed to trouble him minimally. We walked down numerous carved stone staircases and through straight, orderly passageways. As we walked, the Goron again asked, "So, what cell do you belong to?"

"What do you mean, 'cell'?" piped up Navi, who had been resting on my shoulder between my neck and the collar of my tunic.

"Resistance cell. What resistance group do you belong to? I see by your fairy you are a Kokiri, are you one of the Sylvan Liberators?"

"I don't follow," I responded, shaking my head.

"Are you so ignorant? Do you not know of the..." he paused, as if thinking. Then, suddenly, he pulled from his belt a long stone knife chiseled from the rock of the walls and held it close to my throat.

"Don't say a word, Gerudo scum!" he whispered fiercely. "If either of you make a single sound, I will slit his throat and call the guards," he said, looking at Zelda.

I looked down the blade of the knife and saw the face of the Goron twisted with rage. A million thoughts sped through my head-and finally I hit on one. The Goron probably didn't think that I was a Gerudo spy as he professed, but probably knew something worse: that I was Link, the one who had kidnapped the Princess seven long years ago. Somehow, in my fear- panicked brain, that idea stuck so firmly I was convinced that he was about to kill me, half-mad with revenge and hatred.

An agonizing second passed as I formulated a plan. Somehow I reasoned that it was now or nothing, even though the Goron seemed not prepared to kill me. On blind and irrational instinct I suddenly acted...

My hand darted to the Goron's, and I gave a mighty heave as to try to remove the dagger from my throat. But the Goron, sensing my motive, thrust forward as I moved the blade to the side, and suddenly a stream of warm blood began to pour from my neck. I had severed my carotid artery. A haze of redness permeated the outer rim of my vision, and I fell to the ground as the world spiraled into blackness.

Feeling my life slowly ebbing away I tried to open my eyes, so that I might look upon Zelda and the world one last time. The sight that greeted my blood-starved eyes was something entirely different.

Above me was a stone ceiling, but not that of the Goron city-this one was of a different type of stone. Riddled with cracks, and looking centuries old, the ceiling was caked with moss and vines growing in and out of its many fissures and hanging down in ropy tendrils. Above me stood a creature that looked like a vaguely humanoid wolf, standing on two legs and grinning with malevolent intelligence. The grayish fur around its mouth was stained with blood, and its paws were soaked crimson. In my dying moments, new sensations began to bombard me...

I felt the Master Sword in hand, although it hadn't been drawn while I was with Zelda and the Goron. Likewise my Hylian shield was buckled firmly to my other arm, as it had not been when I had lost consciousness. On my chest I felt, where there had been one Gerudo scimitar cut before, five deep scratches as if from the paws of the Wolfols who stood above me. Now it seemed that not only the carotid artery, but also the whole of the front of my neck had been ripped from me. The ground beneath me seemed not to be the cold stone of the Goron city, but soft grass...

I suddenly recognized where I was. I was in the Forest Temple that I had braved and conquered in my first quest---I even thought I recognized the room I was in. It had to have been the first anteroom before the rest of the temple, where two Wolfols had attacked me. Apparently, I had slain one already, before the second had bit my neck apart...

This must be another vision, I thought as I began to drift into a warm, black abyss. Vision or no, I was dying, and I felt all my troubles fleeing my dying form...

And then, as my eyes slid shut...

In the darkness I felt a warmth surge through me. I felt motion-or thought I did-and felt the ground rushing to meet my feet. I struggled to open my eyes again, and finally did, just in time to see the pinkish orb of light flying off into the distance, and an opened bottle on the ground next to the impression on the mossy stone floor that was my dying form...

I had captured one or two fairies on my first mission, but they were never used- I found it cruel that such a beautiful creature be kept my prisoner for as long as I wished. After I had lived through a battle, I let the fairy go to heal my wounds, but also so it could be free- I only kept the fairies just in case. Now, apparently one of them had rescued me from the brink of death.

I looked around to see the Wolfols backing away, terrified at my revival. In the moment of calm that followed, I felt my neck, and found it whole and fully healed. The claw wounds had similarly healed, but my chest still bore faint scars from the wounds. Feeling the weight of the Master Sword in my hand, I turned, the battle-rhythm beginning to pound its violent cadence into my consciousness again.

With a single deft stroke I cleaved the cowering wolf down the middle, spilling its dark blood onto the green floor and coating the holy blade with the ichors of the creature's innards.

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it ended. I saw a flash of light at the edges of my vision, and a strange sensation of moving quickly forward. My view blurred, and as it refocused I saw the faces of Zelda and the Goron over my head.

Whatever cosmic force was sending me back and forth between realities, it had saved my life just then, I realized.

The Goron recoiled with a look of terror and surprise. Zelda, however, registered dull shock for a moment, then overwhelming happiness. Offering me a hand, I accepted and rose slowly to my feet, reaching behind me and drawing my blade. Zelda smiled sweetly and without warning wrapped her arms around me tight, as if gripping me to confirm I had really made it back alive. Although she said nothing, a lot was conveyed in that touch of bodies, and mostly what was conveyed was relief-overwhelming relief. After a moment she released and looked up at me, smiling broader than I had ever know her to do. Her eyes then turned to the Goron, as did mine...

The Goron had backed up against the wall, and I took a step toward him, pointing my blade at his head. "I am no Gerudo spy," I spoke clearly through clenched teeth. "And I'm starting to have my doubts as to your loyalty, Goron."

Fear flashed across his face. "What...how...no magic in Hyrule can do such miracles..." he stammered, dropping the dagger in shock.

"I have...time on my side," I muttered to him. "Have you any other weapons?" I demanded to the Goron, who was trying to sidle away from the point of my weapon.

"No...no, I don't...please...I simply suspected...I feared...I thought..."

"I know what you thought, and what you feared. I have thought and feared the same things in another time and place. I do not hold it against you. I won't hurt you as long as I can get some clear answers," I continued.

The Goron swallowed hard and seemed to regain some composure. "Let us continue on our way...when we reach my quarters we may discuss what you need in private. Here is too dangerous..." He stood perfectly still, unsure of what I was about to do.

I lowered my blade. "I survived through a miracle, true enough...but it seems to be far from reliable. Let's not take that chance again, shall we?" I offered, loosening up. The Goron began to walk cautiously along the pathway we were on.

"This way," he murmured.

Zelda looked at me deeply and questioningly, but I felt that explanations should wait until we were in private and make it apparent in my expression. She looked at me for a moment with a mixture of awe, bewilderment, and deep respect.

After a few more muted minutes we arrived at a small wooden door in the wall. The Goron humbly nodded his head. "These are my quarters, they are small but I have enough room for you both to stay here, at least until we can figure out what to do with you..." Opening the door we found a small bedroom with another door on the far wall.

"There is a small room in there," he said, pointing to the other door, "it's a sort of living room, but I can always get you spare bedrolls. Make yourselves comfortable, and I'll be back. I must notify the resistance leader."

Not even bothering to question him, I staggered into the room and sat heavily on the modest bed that belonged to the Goron.

"Oh, Link," sighed Zelda. "Learn some manners!"

I smiled, kicking off my shoes and making myself comfortable, in an exaggerated way. "I didn't grow up in a palace, Your Highness."

"Oh, knock it off, I'm nobody's highness now..." Zelda laughed, but with a twinge of sadness and regression. Her face slowly turned serious. "Now then, I feel I must know...how, precisely, did you pull THAT one off?" she spoke lightly.

"I don't know, but it was another vision. I was dying, but back in the Forest Temple. And there, I had a fairy...who healed my wounds."

"Wow," she responded. "Never a dull moment with YOU around..." "Look..." I pulled open my shirt and showed her the scars of the scimitar...or was it the wolf's paws? They were healed and not the least bit painful.

"Yes, those look like the scars left when a fairy heals someone who is dying...but..."

"I don't know. I don't know why I had the vision when I did. It might have been something I chose to do, or it could just be dumb luck..." I smiled.

"Link! This is serious...if you can't control these visions...who knows what they mean?"

There was a pause as she and I reflected what had happened. "What do you think we should do from here?" I mused. I had been thinking about that since we had awakened in the room after the teleportation. How would we overcome an evil so entrenched in the flow of time that it seemed to manifest itself even after my actions in the past? Who would help us? I was a killer, and she was my hostage. I didn't know if we would be undetected, or headed for the gallows.

She didn't respond, but instead asked, "What did Rauru mean when he said we were going to a safe place? That place wasn't safe..."

"Well, that teleportation wasn't normal. We both had visions then. I think some outside force was acting on us as we went. It might have been just an accident, but I think it's more likely that..." I paused.

"...Verletz..." Zelda finished for me, fighting back fear.

"We were transported right into his hands. He must have had something to do with it. But...why did he let us live, much less let us keep our possessions?"

Before we could continue, the Goron returned. He carried under his long arms two bedrolls, which he threw to Zelda and me.

"Here, you can spread them on the floor in the other room. I guess you surface-folk can't tell down here, but it's late at night right now. I'm going to let all this wait until tomorrow...I couldn't contact the resistance leader, but I'll let him decide what to do with you later."

"Thank you for your hospitality," Zelda said, bowing a bit to him. "We will make it worth your while."

"And let me thank you for helping us battle the Gerudos. We would have never survived without your aid." I offered. "But one thing. You save our lives, but you have not told us your name..."

The Goron shrugged as he began to get into the bed. "It's not important," he replied.

"Come on!" Navi urged, flying around his head.

"Yes good sir, let us know to whom we owe our lives," Zelda added.

"I am called...Darunia," the Goron replied slowly.


	4. Chapter 4

The door slowly swung shut behind us. As I spread the bedrolls on the floor of the modest room, I opened my mouth and spoke, at the exact same time Zelda was saying the same thing.

"Darunia?!?"

"The Sage of Fire?" she elaborated.

"The Big Brother of the Gorons?" I clarified.

"Not anymore..." she sighed. "Why did this happen?"

"I don't know...I guess that what I did to Ganondorf must have changed everything else..."

"I've been thinking," she continued. "It seems that Darunia still is here, right? And he's not been changed fundamentally. He still opposes the Gerudo, as far as I can tell. If I didn't know better, I'd feel sorry for the Gerudo, having their leader slain..." She paused, seeing how awkward this was.

"Yes...I wonder..." I said haltingly.

"Wonder what?" she questioned.

"Well, you're the sagely one around here, so maybe you can back me up. It seems like the person of Ganondorf, in one form or another, will exist forever. At least, that's what Rauru said..."

"Yes, he did say that Ganondorf's spirit still lived..." she mused.

"So perhaps, there are others whose spiritual forces will exist in any timeline. Such as Rauru, who seems to be unaffected by the time travel, and what I did to..."

Zelda interrupted me. "Don't lay the blame on yourself. Hell, don't lay any blame. Lay praise. What you did was the bravest and most noble thing I could have imagined."

I looked at Zelda, studying her face---her formerly neat and tidy hair now hanging in bangs and loose strands from her face, the hairline just visible under the hood of her cloak. Her large, expressive eyes, glimmering softly in the torchlight of the tiny kitchen. Lips pursed in thought, hand on chin. I had always had immense respect for her, ever since she revealed to me in the sacred Temple of Time that she was the mysterious wanderer who had aided my quest. She showed steely courage in battle. She saved the world from the evil of Ganon by sealing the creature away in the Sacred Realm.

My respect for the 'helpless damsel in distress' grew even more when she accompanied me as I fled the castle after that fateful day. In all my plans I had made on the way to the castle, she never had anything to do with it. I felt I had dragged her into a horrible new life that she didn't deserve. Even though she had assured me that she came with me by her own will, I couldn't help but feel that she should have stayed, and continued with her life.

Then again, had she not been with me hours ago, I'd have been decapitated by the blades of Verletz's minions...

"Well, anyway, Rauru was unaffected, and you and I...so perhaps we are...like him. We are present no matter what course time takes. And Darunia is a Sage...his importance is surely great...so perhaps, he too is manifesting no matter what the course of time is..." I went on.

"But why is he just a soldier or whatever he is, instead of the Big Brother?" she asked.

"Well...I don't know..."

I yawned. "We can talk tomorrow...I need some rest."

"Oh goodness, of course you do. You DIED!" piped up Navi. "Guys, what's the deal with that?"

"Oh Navi, haven't you been listening?" I asked, brushing the fairy off my shoulder.

"Yeah, but it hasn't been making any sense!" she retorted, flying around my head.

"It's a long story," I remarked.

"I KNEW you'd say that!" Navi exclaimed, settling on the bedroll I had spread on the floor. "Sigh...let's go to bed..."

Zelda began to remove the outer layers of her outfit, finding that it was lightly layered and easy to move in, like the clothes of a stealthy rogue or nomad. We still didn't know why, precisely, we were dressed as we were, but perhaps some things we just wouldn't know...

I too began to undress, removing the cloak and cape that were part of my ensemble. In a minute or two we were in the comfortable under-clothes of the outfit, which looked basically similar. She slid under her blankets, but I hesitated for a moment.

"Zelda, before we go to bed, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she answered, turning to face me. Propping her head up with her arm, she looked stunningly beautiful.

"When and how did you become such a good shot?" I asked. "And how did you manage to get the bow off my back and shoot without my noticing?"

She smiled. "Well, you were rather distracted at the time...but as for shooting, I practiced with Impa when I was younger in the castle, and of course, as Sheik...but mostly it was childhood skill. It just got that much better as I aged..."

"I never knew you learned archery," I returned, genuinely surprised. Any remaining preconceptions of this princess were flying out the window.

"Well, my father and the royal tutors taught me healing magic, and such...they said it was a proper woman's role. But I didn't like sitting and studying, so I got Impa to train me in fighting a little. I had read the scrolls of the prophecy...the battles and the Hero of Time fascinated me. I never knew I'd be traveling with him..." she smiled.

"Go on," I offered.

"So I wanted to learn to fight just like him. Impa said I shouldn't bother with learning to swing a sword, but she did say it was okay if I learned archery, at least I could hunt and pass the time with that skill. But my parents didn't approve. My father made me stop, but I kept doing it in secret..."

"Wow." I was dumbfounded. She was truly amazing...and full of surprises. "Never a dull moment with YOU around, either!"

She laughed that I had remembered her remark, and I laughed too, and for a happy moment all the worries and fears of our situation disappeared.

"Oh, go to bed, you two!" Navi laughed.

I turned to her. "You know what to do, Navi. Keep watch. You can sleep later today." Navi usually stayed awake when I slept, to keep watch. She could easily awake me if trouble approached, and in this case, I was more worried about trouble than ever before. Besides, fairies don't need lots of sleep. An hour or two in a dark fold of my clothing during down time was all that she needed before.

"Aww man, I hate sleeping in your pocket! It's so bumpy!" she whined.

"I'll try to be gentler, okay?" I rolled over and shut my eyes. For the first time since I had killed Ganondorf, I thought not of death and war and uncertainty, and the fate that awaited me before I drifted off to sleep. This time I thought of Zelda's face, glowing softly in the candlelight, eyes twinkling as she laughed with me. What an amazing friend, I though as I slowly nodded off, exhausted.

My dreams, or what would be normally called dreams under normal circumstances, were not nearly as pleasant. I had another vision, and it was a truly horrid one. I saw through my own eyes the path that I took through the rest of the Forest Temple. I saw the dark blood of the Wolfols that I had fought again, and the inhuman living plants that assailed me. I saw once again in horrid clarity the battles with the evil entities, the Poe sisters. I saw their piercing spectral eyes burn through me and strike my very soul. And at last, I saw the battle I had waged with the evil phantom of Ganon. A puppet of the real man, to be sure, but as wicked and as dangerous as the real Gerudo himself. I saw the creature seated on horseback, galloping in and out of reality, through the paintings inside the room. I saw him raise his spectral spear in anger, and I saw him send bolts of dark energy towards me. I saw myself, the holy Master Sword raised on high, deflect the energy back at his vile form. I saw him writhe in pain, and I saw myself slaying him with my own sword as he struggled to continue.

And before I knew it, I had awoken. It was pitch dark in the small room, as the candles had gone out. I groped in the darkness for a lantern, which I remembered was sitting on the table last I checked. Sure enough, I found it and quickly I had light to see the room.

In the soft glow of the lantern I saw Zelda's still-sleeping form on the floor. She looked so peaceful and rested that I softly sighed with relief, fearing that she was also having a vision in her sleep. I was glad that she, at least so far, had not had to endure the visions of the other timeline.

I looked around the room for Navi, but didn't see her anywhere. I decided to check to see if Darunia was still asleep, but before I reached the door I heard the soft tinkle of Navi flying.

"Hey!" she stage-whispered to me. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I whispered back to her. "I'm going to see what's become of Darunia. You can go to sleep now."

"Yes!" she flew about, excited.

"Shhh! Zelda's still asleep!" I warned.

"Okay. Finally..." Navi retired to my pillow and extinguished her glow, effectively becoming invisible. Leaving her to dream the dreams of a fairy of her ilk, I opened the door quietly and looked for Darunia.

Darunia was nowhere to be found. I imagined that he was reporting for his military duty in the "resistance," which I still did not understand. Briefly I considered repaying Zelda for the breakfast that she had made for me previously, but I quickly ruled that out. What good would a meal for her be if she had been killed while I was out? There was no way I'd go out into the unknown and potentially dangerous city, much less leave Zelda defenseless and asleep.

I sat down heavily on the bed, sighing. Lacking anything better to do, and not knowing when Darunia would return, I sat and thought.

I thought deeply, really for the first time, about what I had done to Ganondorf, and the world.

Ganondorf. The name lodged in my mind. I had been thinking, on the horseback ride into the woods that took place years, or days, ago, about what I had done to him.

I had defeated him once in human form, but he was really not human. He became a monster. And as a monster, he destroyed the castle, and nearly killed me. And in the end, I could never kill him. But in that one moment, I had killed the evil in one bloodthirsty blow...

I felt more doubts surge in my head. Dishonor. Ambush. A dagger in the dark, killing with no knowledge...Ganondorf probably never knew what hit him. He was dead when he hit the ground...

I reflected that I had killed him, not in combat, but from ambush. I had, quite literally, stabbed him in the back. I guess that any way that I could have stopped the evil would have been fine, but it seemed...somehow wrong. He was only human. A defenseless human being. I had defeated plenty of monsters, and bested humans in combat and trials, but his was the first human life I had taken. Ironic that such an evil, bloodthirsty man became the victim, a martyr, and I became the evil one. I thought for a brief moment that what I had done was no better than what he was planning to do...

Was what I had done the coward's way out? Could I have beaten him had he had a chance to fight back? I couldn't do it the first time, when Zelda and the Sages banished him to the Sacred Realm, and the second time, I defeated him through force of surprise alone.

I doubted...Goddesses, the doubt was terrible. I doubted myself, I doubted that I was truly able to defeat the evil, I doubted just as I had doubted just a few hours ago when I allowed myself to be defeated by the Gerudo patrol.

I hoped, in a rather unserious way, that perhaps some day I could defeat him honorably, and show that I could defeat the evil that lurked behind our lives once and for all by facing it head-on. To show that I was truly worthy of being the Hero of Time; by defeating my greatest enemy on my own.

I don't know how long I sat there, locked in a cage with my own thoughts. It seemed like ages, but in the end it couldn't have been more than an hour or two...

And at last, I heard the door creak open and saw Darunia enter.

"Ho! Up so early?" he offered warmly, which seemed rather odd for a person who had tried to kill me last we met.

"Yes, but don't make too much noise," I said.

"Oh, so she's...she's still asleep?" he asked awkwardly, not knowing Zelda's name. "Say, what are your names, anyway? I never asked last night..."

"Oh, I am called Link, and my companion is Zel..." I stopped.

Zelda and I would undoubtedly still be infamous as the hostage of the deranged killer of Ganondorf and the killer himself, respectively. I had forgotten this, and furthermore wasn't used to living as a fugitive. But what was said could not be unsaid...

"Link...? Zel...Zelda? That's strange...well, I'm sure you get questions about those names all the time..."

It didn't register for a moment, but I realized that the Goron knew the names Link and Zelda, but didn't seem angered by the fact that we might be those two. For a moment I panicked...

"What a strange coincidence, eh?" he went on.

With that, I realized that he didn't think (or wasn't letting on that he thought) we were the actual people, but just named the same. I suppose that not many people had actually seen me or Zelda before we fled, so I figured the risk of someone recognizing us by sight was pretty small. Still, I'd have to be careful.

"Yeah, maybe that's why we joined the, er, Sylvains." I answered, trying not to sound unsure but probably failing. "Maybe that's why we became such good friends. But I shouldn't have told you...I probably should use an assumed name while I'm here."

"Sure," Darunia said, nodding.

"So, where have you been?" I asked.

"Oh, just reporting for mess hall. My shift starts in about fifteen minutes, so I can't talk much. We'll take you to the resistance leader later today when I'm off-duty."

I figured I'd be able to ask some questions to the 'resistance leader,' whoever that was.

"Oh! Almost forgot. I talked to the leader and he said you were welcome to stay."

"Oh, thank you!" I responded.

"And...oh, you must be hungry! The general store carries some human food...you have money?"

I remembered I had some Rupees with me when I had left Kokiri Forest for the Temple of Time. "Yes, I do."

"Well, don't worry. You're safe here. We are pretty tolerant people. There are other Sylvains around, not many, but some, here on duty. You'll fit in. Just don't start any trouble..."

"Oh, of course not."

Closing the door to Darunia's quarters, I began to navigate the corridors and passageways of the Death Mountain city. Eventually arriving at the main hub of the city, the chamber in which catwalks and bridges spanned the gaps overhead and below, a giant sculpture of a Goron pot stood. Remembering the location of the general store here from my last visit, I headed toward it, hoping my actions in the past hadn't been so potent as to change its location.

The halls that I had walked and the main hub were strangely and eerily empty, and as I walked I wondered where the crowds of Gorons who were here the last time I had been this way were.

I soon stopped in my tracks. As I crossed a bridge that spanned the gap in the central chamber of the room, there was a soft sound of a body landing somewhere behind me. Turning, I saw on the rock ledge behind me was a familiar figure.

Clad in a skin-tight body suit, wearing the headgear and shawl of the Sheikah, long blond hair covering one eye, giving the face an air of mystery and danger.

Sheik, the one who had aided my quest the first time I undertook it, and who revealed to me later that she was Zelda, all along, disguised by magic and guile.

But this couldn't be Zelda...could it?

I approached the mysterious ninja slowly, and he began to speak.

"Time flows like a river, too fast to comprehend but slow enough to navigate."

I nodded in agreement, not actually telling him (or her?) that I had heard this from him before.

"You have taken the oar and steered the boat of your destiny down a different path than you had before," he added.

I was taken aback. How did he know this? Did he, like Rauru, posses the knowledge of the other time? Was he another one of the spirits who would be there, no matter what changes had been made to the flow of time?

He confirmed this thought. "I see your surprise. I am the spirit of the Sheikah, and I will be here to guide you no matter what you do. The Princess who took this form was merely the course that I took when you acted as you did the first time that you undertook the quest you take now. You too, Hero of Time, are as I am, a pebble in the river of time who may cause ripples that are different, but always there."

I began to unravel what Sheik had said, and began to understand. "And the princess? And the sages? Are they too pebbles in the river?" I questioned.

"Yes, Link. They have been scattered across the land, but still the destiny of the Sages burns within them. But as before, you must aid them so that they can realize their destiny. As you know, the Sage of Fire still resides here as a lowly and unimportant soldier. But with your help his rightful position of leadership will be restored, and his destiny as a Sage will be fulfilled."

"And the others? I must find Saria, Impa, Nabooru, and Ruto, and help them become Sages?"

"Yes. And if you do this, then you will be able to defeat the spirit of Ganondorf. He now resides in the form of Verletz, but when you confront him with the true force of the Sages behind you, his true form will be revealed, and you will battle..."

"I see. I know what I must do." I answered.

"Remember this. There was a fork in the river of time. Once you chose the left path, this time the right. There is an island in the river, but you can still see, through cracks in the foliage, the other side, and yourself paddling along there."

"You mean...my visions?" I asked.

"They may appear that way, yes. You see glimpses of the two timelines. There will be places where there are no trees at all, places where you will be as though looking into a distant mirror. Those times will be important, young one, mark them well."

I nodded.

"And when the island ends, when the timelines coalesce, you will meet yourself and reunite. You will sail down the river into whatever future awaits you."

I paused. "You're saying...as I go along my journey...I'll keep having visions. But when I have completed my journey, then...the two timelines will merge into one? What does this mean?"

"Place whatever interpretation or value you decide upon my words, hero," said Sheik, backing away. "We will meet again."

And with that, he disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

As my eyes adjusted to the bright flash I saw more movement---once again, the city was bustling with Gorons moving all over. Here and there were others dressed as I was currently. I guessed, based on what Darunia had said, they were members of other "cells," perhaps the Sylvain Liberators. I hadn't the faintest clue what the Sylvain Liberators were, but Darunia had thought I was one...

As I headed towards the shop I thought about what had happened. The doubt I had been feeling began to lift, now that I knew what I had to do to save the world---find the Sages, and remain undercover. I reflected at the amazing feat that Sheik had accomplished---seemingly stopping time and removing the bustling crowds for a while before I saw him.

As I reached the shop I knew that his emanation of Sheik was surely more powerful than Zelda's form of him...I didn't quite know the consequences, however.

Entering the shop, I saw the Goron behind the counter to be the same one that had sold me things the first time I had been there. I guess some things just don't change, or perhaps this had simply not changed due to random chance...

"Greetings, stranger! Haven't seen you around these parts before! New member of a cell?"

"Err, yes..." I managed without sounding too suspicious.

"A Sylvain, eh?"

"Yes...just joined."

"Glad to see another fighter join against the occupation. How'd you get up here? Were ya assigned?"

"Yeah..." I stammered, totally out of the loop.

"Great. We can use all the help we can get."

"Just glad to be here," I added, sounding rather impatient, trying to end this awkward conversation.

"All right, sorry to keep ya waitin'. What'll ya have?"

I picked out some extra arrows for myself, and to eat bought a few loaves of bread, a dozen strips of salted pork, and the prize jewel, a jar of strawberry jam. For Zelda, this probably wasn't such a luxury, but for me it certainly was.

Placing my purchases in a leather sack, the Goron calculated the total. "It'll be 210, please."

I reached into my wallet and removed several glittering Rupees. Extending my hand to the Goron I saw a look of unabashed shock spread over his face.

"These...what are you doing with these?" he asked, clearly dumbfounded.

"They are your payment, sir," I said a bit sarcastically.

"These were all destroyed! How do you have any of them?" he asked, amazed.

I realized that somehow, the currency of Hyrule must have changed. I made something up quickly.

"Umm...well...when they came to take mine, I buried them until it was safe."

"And they didn't catch you? Wow...that's unbelievable! Here, just let me look at one..." Too excited to bother with my answer, he took a Green Rupee and looked at it, like a jeweler examining a diamond. "By the Goddesses...this is incredible! Please sir! Let me keep this one! You can have all your purchases! No, wait! Here! This must be worth ten times as much as what you've bought! Here!" He thrust into my hands a large fistful of strange paper rectangles with words printed on them. They seemed to represent numerical values of currency...

"Err...I thank you sir, but please, try to keep this quiet..." I said, confused.

"Oh of COURSE! If the Gerudo hear of this we'd both die."

I began to leave the store. "Thank you," I said as I left.

"Thank YOU," the Goron replied, polishing what had once been pocket change to me.

This is weird, I thought to myself as I left.

As I quietly entered Darunia's house I lit my lamp again, after hitting my leg on the bed. I entered the room where Zelda and Navi still slept and realized I'd have to make some breakfast in here, and I'd need light.

Putting the strange paper money in my pocket I knelt at Zelda's side. She still slept as peacefully as ever, and it warmed my heart. I don't know what I would do if she had been suffering through the visions and nightmares I had been.

I decided to let her keep sleeping, but I had to light up the room for cooking. I gently touched her shoulder. She didn't stir at all. I wedged my hands under her back and below her legs and gently picked her up. I looked into her sleeping face and smiled. Zelda had been dragged into a horrid future and a desperate quest, but at least she slept peacefully.

Feeling her weight in my hands made my happy, I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's the cliché of the hero taking the princess off in his arms, off into the sunset, or the husband carrying the bride over the threshold. I don't know. I felt guilty, knowing that she'd be in horrific danger, but I still felt glad that she had come along.

I laid her out on the Goron's bed and pulled the sheets over her body. She sank into the covers and smiled in her sleep, and I smiled back. 


	5. Chapter 5

In the early morning light that filtered down through the haze above Death Mountain, the Gerudo camp stirred. Slowly it came to life after another restless night, cooking fires dotting the area and Gerudo warriors emerging from their tents. It was just one of the hundreds of semi-permanent encampments around the base of Death Mountain. The stubborn Goron defenders had taken back much of the Gerudo Army's earlier gains, and by the time that the two Sylvains had been captured their rocky stronghold at the foot of the mountain was the only gain they had made. Placing the captives there for later transport back to Gerudo Valley for questioning at the hands of Lord Verletz, somehow the captives managed to escape moments before Verletz himself had arrived, unannounced, to meet them. They were obviously of great importance, but not even the senior officials closest to the Archon of Din knew what plans he had for his captives. 

The Gorons controlled this mountain, the Gerudo captain thought as she prepared yet another meal of the excruciatingly salted jerked beef and rock- hard biscuits rationed to her division. The Gorons had lived there for centuries; they knew every last in and out of the miles of secret passages and caverns that honeycombed the mountain. The Gerudo Empire had never faced a challenge like this one before. The Kokiri were simple enough to conquer-just children and their magic trees. The Zora Domain and Lake Hylia proved more difficult to conquer, as the Gerudo had never before experienced such great quantities of water before in their lives. Furthermore, the Zora and their allies had proved to know their domain as well as the Gorons did theirs. Underwater raids and ambushes sunk numerous supply vessels that shipped goods along the Gerudo River that snaked from the heart of the Gerudo Valley and ran to the Lake. But in the end the armies of the Gerudo had conquered the lake and its Zora.

The captain thought often about the people who they conquered. She had read the resistance propaganda and laughed. The resistance leaders portrayed the Gerudo as inhuman monsters bent on enslaving and killing those who they conquered. She laughed because her beloved Lord Verletz was not nearly that stupid. Why would he enslave and kill? He needed the residents of the lands he controlled. There simply weren't enough Gerudo to go around. They lived peacefully under the watch of the Gerudo police. As they spread across Hyrule Field, taking one hamlet after another, the news of their conquests spread to others---and the others embraced the so-called 'invaders' with open arms. Who is to judge the quality of their leadership? Volunteers flocked to their banners. Cities capitulated freely. Taxes fell, as the communities were required only to pay for a nomad army in tents rather than the luxury of the wasteful, bloated Hylian monarchy and their palace. They were not conquerors; they were merely changers of government, and always for the better. When cities resisted, they took them over, but only when Verletz was sure that doing so was what the people truly wanted.

She was behind her commander completely. She did not doubt for a minute that the Gerudo conquests were righteous, justified, and a boon to the wretched lands they took.

As the soldiers under her command arose, she explained to them their mission for that day.

"The captives of Lord Verletz have escaped into a Goron resistance stronghold somewhere near...here," she said, her fingers moving across a map of what little area of the mountain they had managed to scout. "Our mission is to find and, if possible, capture the area, although I doubt that we, by ourselves, will be able to rout the whole city. And even if we do, doubtless there will be more defenders who can reach our position. So, if resistance is encountered or our primary objective is reached, avoid combat unless absolutely necessary. We will simply map the new territory and then order a more powerful force to move in and take the position. Are my orders clear?"

One private, a fresh volunteer and one of the few non-Gerudo in the captain's company, voiced an objection. "Those Gorons take our supplies, they kill our warriors and they show us no mercy. Why are we showing them the same? Why do we find their positions but do not wipe their miserable kind out?"

The captain had heard this question so many times before, but she was totally in thrall to Verletz's position on the subject that she could answer without skipping a beat. "That is not our way. We are not the barbarians who ruin great civilizations. Would you, my dear, enjoy living in Death Mountain among the ruins you had created? And besides, had we showed such brutality to your pathetic home, you would lie where you had fallen on the field. We are no destroyers. We are liberators."

The private nodded, accepting the doctrine that Verletz had handed down to his loyal subjects.

She continued, growing louder so that the rest of the group assembled could hear their conversation and be inspired. "Yes, the hand of Lord Verletz is not a destructive one. Besides, if we slaughter the Gorons, who will mine the iron that will soon forge the steel of our victory?

We need the civilians of the lands we liberate, although they may have once been our enemies. Because deep down, even the most stalwart of those who we conquer know in their hearts that ours will be a superior rule than that of the Hylian royals. They will be our loyal subjects when we have freed the land from Hylian tyranny."

Fired with the passion of their leader, the company cheered the name of their beloved leader.

"Hail, Verletz, Archon of Din!"

Gerudo swords beat a cadence on steel shields as the company readied themselves for the day's mission. Tempered steel beat against battle- scarred shields bearing the head of a desert adder. Captain Nabooru raised her shield on high and gave a shout, and the company mimicked her gesture.

Malon, daughter of Talon, beat her sword against the shield of the Gerudo, glad that her doubts about her Lord and her Captain had been assuaged, the rhythm of battle and good cheer taking over her senses...

"We will fight, and we will win!" She cried above the raucous pounding.

"But first," Nabooru replied, "We must have a little breakfast! Look!" Withdrawing a sack from her backpack and holding it open for all to see, the company cheered---inside were several large wheels of delicious Lon Lon cheese.

The throng eagerly divided up the goodies and ate happily, Malon at Nabooru's side.

"Excellent work, Captain," she said breathlessly, saluting.

"What, that? My little speech? I'd say your cheese was more effective at motivation. Have some, you've earned it." They shared a wedge, talking of battle and strategy, the young Malon, fired with enthusiasm, and the mentor Nabooru, a veteran and skilled fighter.

This young Malon would go far, she decided.

* * *

It wasn't long after I had returned to Darunia's abode and began preparing our meal that I heard the door open and saw a sleepy Zelda enter.

"Wha...what's going on?" she stammered, rubbing her eyes.

"I see you're awake," I returned, trying to pull apart the bread.

"My, you're observant," said the small voice of Navi, rising from the floor. "What tipped you off? That she walked in here?"

"Oh, shut up, fairy!" Zelda laughed, giving Navi a playful swat. Zelda gazed amazedly at the food I was preparing. "You got this? Where?"

"At a store...I wanted to thank you for making me breakfast that time in the woods..."

"Oh, Link...that's so sweet of you!" She swiftly examined the meager provisions I had purchased. "You got me all this? Jerked pork?" she picked up a cut of the salty, tough vittles and gnawed on it contentedly.

"Zelda! Don't you want me to cook it or prepare it or something?" I asked, incredulous.

"No, I like jerked pork fine the way it is! In fact, you don't have to keep messing around with this stuff. We can eat it plain."

"Well, I knew you didn't do nothing but sip champagne and eat caviar at the Palace, but I didn't think you'd like gnawing on what feels and tastes like salty wood!"

"Come now, I think I've demonstrated I don't mind eating simple food and living plainly. I'd prefer that to wearing gowns and corsets any day."

Breakfast was just that, simple. I tore off some pieces of bread and handed her the jam, and she ate happily. Seeing her so content made me glad she didn't seem to be suffering so much. Aside from that one vision she had while teleporting, she seemed free of any traumatic dreams. I hoped with all my heart that by the time this was all over, she would still be as happy as she seemed now. As happy as she was before all this started. And I wished I could be as happy as her...

As she ate I told her about the strange happenings at the store.

"So...the currency of Rupees has been replaced with paper money?" she asked around a mouthful of bread. "Any reason why?"

"Nope, I never found out why. Do you know anything about it?"

"Well," she mused, thoughtfully chewing, "A little bit before we left, the court was talking about doing something like that. There was a heated argument going on about the merits of paper currency."

"It's abSURD!" Navi broke in. "Paper money? Paper's only worth like five Rupees to the pound! You'd have to carry around a huge cart full of paper!"

"It's definitely not what you're imagining," Zelda smiled. "You don't actually barter with paper. The paper has numerical amounts on it, and that signifies how many Rupees it's worth."

"But it CAN'T be worth much if it's just a little piece of paper!" the fairy protested.

"It's not literally worth that much. But if everyone agrees it is worth that much, it's the same as having it really be worth that much. Basically, it's saying that you've given the person as many Rupees as the paper is worth, without having to carry lots of heavy gems around," Zelda explained with remarkable patience.

"I still don't get it, but I guess a couple of pieces of paper are a lot easier to carry around than a wagon-load of precious stones. And harder to steal!" Navi rejoined. "Let me see some!"

I took out a few bills for her to examine. She flew around the bills, taking everything in. "Wow..."

"The Hylian court decided to suspend the project. We didn't think people were ready for it, but we might have done it eventually."

"Guess the Gerudo got impatient and decided to reform the currency themselves," I remarked.

"You know, I never thought the Gerudo would be so...forward-thinking," Zelda said quizzically. "Sounds to me like they're pretty reformist people."

"Well, if you're a totalitarian dictator like Ganondorf was, it's easy to implement your ideas, and I can't imagine Verletz's rule is any different, if what Rauru said is true," I returned.

"One thing I don't get, though. Darunia is one of the 'Stone Fists' and we're supposed to be 'Sylvain Liberators.' What in the world are they?"

"I have no idea, but I'll ask Darunia first chance I get."

"Really? Won't that blow our cover?"

"Well...I guess. But I just gotta know. This is driving me nuts."

"'Sylvain Liberators'..." she pondered. "It sounds like...well, like some sort of liberation group. What do you think that means?"

"Well, it's a liberation group against the Gerudo. So...hmm...I guess it would be a rebel faction in Gerudo Valley trying to overthrow Verletz."

"But then, why is there more than one group?"

"Well, I guess there could be lots of splinter groups working towards a common goal," I conjectured.

"But that doesn't explain why the 'Stone Fist' headquarters is here in Death Mountain. What does Death Mountain have to do with the Gerudo? It isn't all that close to Gerudo Valley anyway, and why would the Gorons be interested in liberating the Gerudo anyway?"

We talked for a while longer, conjecturing somewhat facetiously about possible meanings and ramifications of all we had seen.

"Maybe there's a group of rebel Zora, ready to swim from Lake Hylia into the Gerudo Valley, scale the walls of the canyon, and invade at any moment!" Zelda laughed. "That's GOT to be it!"

I smiled at her and continued eating. "You've got a fertile mind, I'll say that much," I answered, tapping her on the forehead.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, swatting my hand away. "Don't do that! You could damage the goods!"

We had a nice, carefree laugh, the kind I never thought we'd ever be capable of laughing again. At this point the breakfast was winding down, and we were just about done.

"Let me clean this stuff up, Link. You've done enough," she offered.

"No way. You relax. Just go and lie down or something. I'm sure this has been really stressful for you, and I want you to just take it easy."

Somehow, what I had said irked her. "Take it easy? Relax? You're telling ME to take it easy and relax? YOU'RE the one who was stabbed to death and rose from the dead last night."

"Well...I'm sure everything that we've gone through has been hard on you too, and I feel fine now..." I said defensively.

"Well that's all well and good, but what makes you think I'm so helpless?" she returned.

"Nothing! I didn't say that!" I protested.

"You implied it. Now listen, I think I've adequately proved I'm not your damsel in distress. I might have been earlier, but I'm not now. And I shouldn't just lie back down to bed while you slave away in the kitchen just because of your silly manners."

I was about to open my mouth to reply, but she beat me to it.

"I know you're not a gentleman. I'll clean up the damn table! I don't need to go and lie prostrate like I was on my deathbed. You worry about your own problems, and stop treating me like I'm your charge, the helpless princess to be defended."

"Listen," I managed, "I know you're not. I just...I just care so much about you, and I don't know what I would do if you got hurt. I was just looking out for your best interests."

"Don't fuss!" she assured me, beginning to arrange the plates and clear off the scraps. "I'm not your charge," she repeated. "I can do things for myself."

"But Zelda," I protested, looking her straight in the eye as she paused in her movements. "You are my charge. I must protect you no matter what. I can't let anything happen to you, even if it means my own safety must be put on the line. My own life."

She recoiled. "Don't talk like that. You might have once been a noble knight, looking out for me and saving me when I got in trouble. But now you're a rogue, a fugitive, an outlaw. You don't need to worry about chivalry." She heaved a theatrical sigh, a smirk across her face. "Besides, I'm not good for much besides cleaning as it stands."

"You must be joking!" I rejoined, putting more things away. "You saved my life."

"How many times have I had to say that to you?" she asked, shuttling dishes and scraps about.

"Oh, don't worry about that. That's the past. You can't change it. You can only change the future."

"As we know," she smiled, although the comment came off to me as rather grim. It was all too true.

After clearing the table together I invited her back to Darunia's bed. She outright refused to go back to sleep.

"What, and leave the Hero of Time alone and defenseless, without my bow to guard his back?" she joked.

"I'm really amazed. What made you decide to fire that shot?" I asked, sitting on the comparably soft bed and inviting Zelda to do the same.

"Well, the fact you'd be a head shorter now had I not had something to do with it," she said, reclining.

"Now who's Miss Manners?" Navi interjected as she flitted about over our heads before settling down between us.

"Not YOU," Zelda retorted. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," she recited schoolmarmishly.

"But you took my bow much earlier than that," I pointed out, trying to get back on topic.

"Well, seriously, I wanted to try and help you and Darunia fight," she replied, twisting a lock of her hair absentmindedly.

"But I told you to go and get in the room, and..."

"And hide? And run away from our problems? Look Link, I understand if you want me to be safe, and I understand that you didn't think I was capable of lifting a finger to help, but..."

"I didn't say that! I just...I..." I faltered, looking for words.

"You underestimated me."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I don't blame you. I mean, I don't look like much, do I?" she chided.

I pondered a correct response to that, but couldn't find one. "Tell me, is there ANY way I could answer that wouldn't get me in trouble?"

She laughed again in her beautiful, soothing laugh. It made me feel so relieved that at least she can be happy. "Of course there is."

"What? 'Yeah, you DO look like a total weakling!' Is that it?"

She sat up, saying, "Well, you could say I look like a beautiful fair maiden, an avatar of a heavenly goddess..."

I smiled at her. "I could say that."

"So do it!" she said teasingly.

"Nah, you're much more beautiful than any goddess," I remarked slyly.

"Oh come on, you!" she said shoving me, flopping back onto the bed in a flurry of strawberry-blonde hair and tinkling laughter.

I sighed and leaned back, only to evoke a cry of incredulousness from the fairy beneath my back. "Hey! Watch it!"

Zelda smiled. "You watch where you're sitting, Navi. You're a small little fairy in a big world."

I relaxed, adjusting Zelda so I could have room to lie down. "You're taking up the whole couch here!" I protested as I lifted her legs to make room.

"It's a bed, and YOU said I ought to relax in it," she answered, squirming.

I dropped her legs onto my lap, shutting my eyes blissfully. It crossed my mind that I hadn't yet told her about Sheik, the quest he had given me, and the implications of it.

It must have shown in my face, because Zelda soon asked, "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I answered, trying to keep a straight face.

"You don't look fine to me," she said skeptically. "You look like something's bothering you. What haven't you told me?"

"Oh, it's nothing important," I tried to dismiss her.

"Well, if it's upsetting you we don't have to talk about it," she said sympathetically.

"No, it's not really upsetting, but...well..." I was loath to break up the peaceful moment we were sharing then, which could well be the last time we ever could relax as we were then. So I just quieted her with a simple "Never mind," and lay back down, totally at peace for a brief instant. And I think that she could have pressed the matter, but she didn't, because she too was at peace.


	6. Chapter 6

Peace is relative. Painfully relative. I suppose I don't have much of a right to talk about peace; I don't really know that much about it. My life has consisted of nothing but childhood, and fighting. I really had never known peace; even in what for most would seem to be an idyllic childhood. For me it wasn't ideal at all. I was the outcast, the strange one. I always found it bizarre how my society quantified its members by their...sameness. I was different, and, ergo, not a part of their society. I never knew whether or not this was exclusive to the tight-knit and xenophobic Kokiri, or if it was just human nature. I guess I'll never know. When I first left home, I soon had been thrust into a future where society as I knew, or imagined, it, was totally annihilated. Now, I am a fugitive, hiding from whatever society may be out there. Perhaps I am best off not knowing.

Peace is relative, relative to war and to tension and whatever constitutes the lack of peace at the current time. In our case, half-asleep in blissful relaxation, I doubt it could be called true peace. I have always believed that true peace comes not only from the lack of conflict, but the lack of the very potential. I knew that if that were the truth, real peace would be impossible to achieve. There will always be the potential for conflict, for war and bloodshed. I guess that's a good thing. Otherwise people like me would have no life whatsoever.

I had thought after I had defeated Ganon, it was peace. I thought I could enjoy a life like the rest of the people of the world. I was wrong, I suppose. The evil, the potential, was always there. It will be there forever, it seems.

As I lay comatose, eyes half-lidded, feeling the warm weight of Zelda's legs on my lap, I thought it was peace. The conflict that was so close to me seemed so far-off then.

It had to end, I suppose. Peace can only last so long until entropy and ambition ruin it again.

Perhaps an hour or two after he had left, Darunia returned. "Enjoying yourselves?" he spoke as he entered.

I made a groggy reply and bestirred myself, carefully maneuvering out from under Zelda. She was only barely awake and I didn't want to disturb her. Like it or not, I knew she was worn out. She deserved to rest, no matter how she pleaded.

"Don't bother," Darunia remarked as I daintily stood. "She'll need to get up too."

"Why?" I queried.

"You both have been summoned to the resistance leader. You will meet him, and he will judge your worth. If he deigns it acceptable, you will stay here to serve him. If you are not accepted, you will have to leave."

"What? Leave?" I blurted. "We can't leave! I have no idea what might be out there, and..." I stopped.

"What do you mean, 'you have no idea what might be out there?'"he asked suspiciously.

"Listen, Darunia, I'm afraid I haven't been totally honest with you."

"That doesn't surprise me," he replied contemptuously. "Frankly, I haven't really believed anything you've told me. But I have my orders, and you don't seem like you're going to be going anywhere. Get her up." Darunia busied himself collecting odds and ends to bring to the leader.

I gently touched Zelda's shoulder, and her eyes fluttered open. She didn't seem to sleep very heavily, when she chose not to. "What...what's happening?" she murmured.

"I'm sorry," I said reflexively.

"Sorry for what?" she inquired.

"We have to go. The 'resistance leader' has summoned us for questioning, and it doesn't look like we really have a choice about going."

She paused in thought, and then nodded. "I understand. I'll go along."

"You don't have a choice about that either, missy," the Goron replied gruffly. "You're not exempt."

"I know," she replied, sitting up. "I was saying to my friend here that we would do what you say instead of stabbing you and valiantly escaping."

The Goron was not amused. "Try that, and you'll find I'm made of tougher stuff than you think. And you'll never make it out of here with your heads still on your bodies. Now get up, if you know what's good for you."

This Darunia was very different from the one that I knew before. He seemed weathered, older, gruffer, less friendly, as though he had witnessed horrors and tragedies too great to mention.

Zelda said nothing. I offered her my hand and she took it as I pulled her to a standing position.

"Move along. And get your little magic light to come too," he added as he exited the room.

I grabbed for Navi, who was still on the bed half-asleep. When I first obtained a fairy I was amazed at how they were so ineffable, so light and unreal as if there was nothing that those wings were attached too. Try to grab a fairy in your hands and you'll find it's not there when you open them, and she'll be laughing behind your back.

As I reached for her, this happened. It was almost as if my hands grabbed nothing at all, like her essence had slipped through my fingers like sand. She reappeared above my hands. "Hey! What's going on? Don't do that!" she complained, hovering about.

As I turned to leave with Zelda she followed, shutting up for one glorious moment. The passageways wound and twisted so much I was soon totally lost. Zelda followed close behind me, hand occasionally touching my back to reconfirm that I was, in fact, still there. Several times Darunia had to stop at a seemingly innocuous section of wall and depress a hidden switch, opening a new venue. Obviously these people had taken much precaution to make sure that their base of operations was a total secret. Precautions against what I could only conjecture.

At last we reached a deep, central chamber, finding a door flanked by a pair of Gorons, spears at the ready. They gave a strange sort of salute to Darunia as he passed them that consisted of holding a clenched fist up to their faces, arm parallel to the body and snapping it back to their sides. In the chamber was a small throne-like object of carven rock, surrounded by torches. At the feet of the throne was a furry rug, and on the walls there were stacked rows of pots and draperies. The ceiling of the room was thick with smoke from rows of torches that illuminated the place, but the Gorons within seemed little affected. Four more elite guards stood silent vigil, and upon the throne was a Goron who seemed familiar to me, but not enough that I could consciously name him.

He was small, much smaller than Darunia or his attendants. He seemed wise beyond his years, and his stern countenance seemed to bear a great burden on it. I guessed he was perhaps my age, in Goron years. Not too young, certainly, to lead the 'resistance.'

"Are these they?" he asked of Darunia, with a voice I though sounded familiar.

"Indeed they are, Sir," he replied, standing at attention.

"At ease there, Lieutenant," said the younger Goron, with a gesture. Darunia relaxed somewhat.

"Lieutenant?" Zelda queried. "You're a Lieutenant, Darunia?"

Like lightning Darunia's massive fist struck Zelda from behind. She sprawled onto the floor. In almost the same instant my hand darted for the Master Sword, but as I did so the leader bellowed to stop.

Darunia reluctantly stood down as I ran to Zelda's side. She was conscious, and angry, with a small drop of blood from her nose that I guessed she had smashed on the ground, and probably a nasty bruise on her back.

"You will speak when spoken to!" Darunia shouted as he looked to the leader.

"Darunia! Enough," the leader spoke gravely. "That was uncalled for. She was simply unfamiliar with our ranking system."

"But Sir, she must show you proper..."

"Never mind proper. You are dismissed, Lieutenant. I will speak to these two in private."

Darunia growled. "Yes Sir," he snapped, and turned to leave. The guards in the chamber filed out behind him, and the door swung ominously shut.

Zelda grimaced as I tried to wipe the drop of blood on her lip away with the sleeve of my outfit. "I can take care of myself, thank you," she muttered as Navi settled onto my shoulder.

"Now then," said the leader, rising from his chair. "I apologize for that. If you are injured I'll..."

"No no, I'm all right," she interrupted, wiping her nose and rubbing her side. "I'll be feeling that one tomorrow, but I'm okay."

"Once again, I am sorry," the leader explained. "Lieutenant Darunia demands very strict interpretation of the rules of seniority."

"Well, I'm not opposed to that," I responded. "But..."

"Yes, well, again, I apologize."

"Stop apologizing!" said Zelda. "I'm fine."

"You do not look fine," the leader insisted. "If you require aid..."

Zelda grimaced, but replied, "I will be fine."

"Listen," I demanded, "why are we here?"

"You know not?" the leader responded.

"No, I don't."

"Perhaps you have lost your memory. The magic of the Gerudo can do that to a person."

"Now, wait right there," Navi interrupted. "What's all this talk of the Gerudo? What have they done that was so wrong? They were just desert- dwelling nomads as far as I knew."

"Ho ho, even fairies can be struck with amnesia? I did not know that," the leader chuckled.

Zelda protested, "We have not been struck by any sort of amnesia, sir...err..."

"So, you wish to know my name. I will tell you when I deem you worthy of it," the Goron replied.

Zelda muttered something but acquiesced. "As I was saying, we are not of any altered state of mind. We...well...never mind," she said, wisely avoiding divulging any details.

"Oh? I believe now I will have to mind, now that you've sufficiently aroused my curiosity," the leader said in a way that seemed informal enough but had very serious undertones.

I was torn. The main question in my mind was how we could expect to trust this person, whose Lieutenant had tried to kill me and who, apparently, heads a very shadowy organization.

Then I thought of Sheik, and the quest, and how I was to be looking for sages. Darunia was a sage, but I saw no way to awaken him to his position as one. Would telling this leader everything help?

And I thought of my murder of Ganondorf, and what consequences would fall upon my head should I be found out.

And then I thought, how could anyone possibly believe our story?

So I said to Zelda, "Go ahead. He won't believe us anyway."

"Don't expect that," the leader said, "I have an open mind."

Zelda grinned. "All right, I will tell you our story if you tell us who you are."

"Oh, I can't resist a good story. So all right. I am known as Little Link, after the famed hero who, just a lad, felled the wicked Ganondorf as he prostrated before the King of Hyrule, his name blessed forever, and was never seen again. And the Princess fair, young Zelda, heir to the Hylian throne, fled with the hero to lands unknown, never to be seen again, rather than be away from her love," he said, forgetting succinctness and reciting the whole legend. "Hail to them, martyrs great and heroes for all eternity!" he finished, with great pomp.

I gave a small applause. "That is a very interesting legend," I said, not letting anything on in the hopes of gaining more information. I saw Zelda containing herself well, and even Navi had managed to act cool.

"What's all this about the Princess fleeing with her 'love?'" Zelda remarked, giving a smirk.

"Like I said, an interesting LEGEND," I repeated to her, grinning.

"'Tis no legend, 'tis the truth of the Goddesses. Now then. I believe I've fulfilled my end of the bargain. Tell me everything."

And so we did.

"Are you familiar with the legends of the Hero of Time?" I began slowly.

"Aye," Little Link replied.

"Well. You may not know it, but that saga has already happened."

"Really? When? A hundred years back?"

"No. In fact, it's happening as we speak."

"You don't mean to say...You think you're...the Hero of Time," the Goron responded, bemused.

"Well, yes and no..."

"Then who's this?" he asked, pointing at Zelda.

"'This' is the Seventh Sage, the final piece of the puzzle, key to the gates of the Sacred Realm, and possessor of the Triforce of Wisdom," Zelda answered.

"You are, are you?" Little Link returned. "So. The legend of the Hero of Time. It says that one day, the world will wither in the grip of a great evil. Well, if Verletz isn't the greatest evil I've ever known..."

"That he is, but how is the land withering under his grasp?"

"Just ask anyone he rules over!" the Goron returned, confused.

"The Gerudo? If he is so cruel, why do they keep him as their leader?"

"Have you two been asleep for the last decade or so?" the leader asked, incredulous.

"Well...almost."

It went on like that for a good while, until finally we had told him everything: the first quest, the return to childhood, the rise of the same ancient evil, and our flight.

"So you're saying," the young Goron said at the end, "that you and her are time-traveling heroes of legend, who having saved the world once already, went back in time and have to save it again."

"That's the truth of the Goddesses," I said coyly.

"And not only are you time-traveling heroes, but you are also Link and Zelda? The martyrs of all that is good? You, and not even the present you, but a mere boy, slew the most powerful warlock of the Gerudo? And you are the Princess who fled with her love, never to be seen again?"

"That's the truth of the Goddesses," she replied.

I was overwhelmingly tempted to take that statement as the double entendre that it was.

"Er...Now that we have told you our tale, we wish to know some more things."

"My middle name?" the Goron remarked.

"As we told you," I continued, ignoring his joke, "we have indeed been asleep, dead to the outside world, for lo these seven years. As such, it should be evident that we are a little, well, behind the times. Now we have one last favor to ask of you. We wish for you to tell us the history of this land of Hyrule, from the time that we slew the evil Ganondorf until this very moment."

The Goron hesitated. "Why should I indulge you so?"

"What, do you not believe our tale?" queried Zelda, half-serious.

"Trouble yourselves not with what value I place on your tale. I cannot say I believe it, but I cannot say I do not. But I have talked enough, and the original purpose for your summoning has been all but forgotten."

"Please," Zelda pleaded. "You must believe us. You have nothing to loose, and yet at the same time, if you do not help us...you may have everything to loose."

"Is that a THREAT?" bellowed the Goron. "Know you that if I so desired your heads would hang on pikes at the gates of our city to warn other foul Gerudo spies of their fate?"

Zelda remained stoically calm. "The fate that would befall you, and all the world, should you not aid us but this once would be a thousand times worse than a mere betrayal. Our quest as we have told it to you is not ours alone to bear, for we are not the only people who will be affected by its outcome! You may not believe our story, but you must believe this. We require the minutest of aid, and so will you help us on our mission." She paused, searchingly. "You must trust us..."

Little Link paused, eyes closed, face devoid of emotion. "Very well. If you so desperately need such simple information...and what harm could come of a little history lesson?"

"Thank you..."Zelda murmured.

"All right. Seven years ago, Link and Zelda together slew the Gerudo lord Ganondorf. They then disappeared. The search was intense. When finally every corner of the land had been searched, the world simply gave up. The pair was a lost cause.

"Meanwhile, the Gerudo grieved the loss of their beloved leader. They feared that never again would they have such a chance to take power. They bemoaned the death of their leader in symbol as well as in reality. Their hopes had been dashed.

"When out of the west came a new hope for them. He then was just a boy, but they clung to him desperately. From somewhere in the blasted wastes of the Gerudo Desert he came, barely alive. He was dressed in the strangest clothes, ones never before known. The Gerudo found him and saved his life. There were those who wanted nothing to do with him. There were many who knew in their hearts that this boy could not replace their leader. He was like the beloved Ganondorf only in gender.

"But as the boy grew up, under the guidance and protection of the sympathetic Gerudo, it soon became evident that he was destined for greatness. He learned swordplay and combat, archery and riding. When a group of Ganondorf's disciples began to teach him the warlock magic, he picked them up as if he was Ganondorf himself retuning to claim his own.

"The Gerudo have long worshipped Din, the burning goddess of might and destruction. She was embodied in the deadly heat of the desert and in the ferocious combat styles of the Gerudo themselves. So Verletz became a cleric of Din. Some say he simply wished to follow the other Gerudo. Some say he believed that he could become the embodiment of the Gerudo themselves, an avatar of the goddess in the material world. But the most likely explanation is that he's just calculating. He did it so that more of the Gerudo would fall to their knees and worship him, more people would decide that he is, after all, the savior of the Gerudo race, the harbinger of their greatest victory. Well, if that was the reason, it worked. He became an Archon faster than anyone had ever before. It was as though he really was imbued with heroic destiny.

"For a long time, too long really, the rest of Hyrule turned a blind eye to him. We thought that everything would work out. Everyone hoped that he would placate the Gerudo's aggression and send his people's energy towards a benign task. We hoped he would cooperate with us and keep the peace. We hoped that Verletz would give the Gerudo what they wanted, without endangering the rest of us.

"Verletz started small. He didn't act like he wanted to take over the world. He used diplomacy at first. He was an amazing diplomat. And he got what he wanted. He obtained major victories---trade agreements, spheres of influence, subsidies, benefits, leniency for whatever shady deals he made that were brought to light---without raising a fist in anger and appearing to have the moral imperative to be the victor. Every time he got what he wanted, and every time everyone believed he deserved it. By the time we found out our kindness was digging our own grave, it was too late.

"Again, when he started using force, he started small. Simple, trivial things he did. He had been exerting influence in the area of Hyrule Field near the road to Gerudo Valley. A few little hamlets paid him tribute, a few little towns secretly bowed to his will. It wasn't threatening. But then troops started arriving, and in Hyrule Field. We had know perfectly well that he was massing an army, but we didn't want to think about the prospect that his ambitions went farther than lucrative fish deals with the Lake Hylia skippers or cheap horses from Lon Lon. He wanted land. He wanted blood. He wanted his loyalists to spread out and rule Hyrule. We didn't want to think that. We let him mass troops there. When a town that he didn't even, officially, "own," rebelled against the army there that was kidnapping children to raise as warriors and conscripting women to fight without any authority other than their own swords, he razed it to the ground. And no one did anything. Sure, we reprimanded him. We told him to stop. And he didn't.

"Five years ago, only two years after Verletz had been found in the desert by the Gerudo, he attacked outward. Where his armies went, loyalists, sleeper cells, and disaffected peasants rose. They turned on their friends and families, and each other. Towns that surrendered were plundered of all that they had stockpiled and then left to try to rebuild themselves while paying half their profits in tribute as vassal states to Verletz's empire. Those who resisted received the same fate, but with every structure that burned wiped out, and maybe every tenth person dead.

"The King sent his armies to fight. They fought and fought. The mud and grass of Hyrule Field became the graveyard of the youth. But we weren't worried. We realized that we had made a terrible mistake in supporting this madman, but we knew that victory would be swift and decisive. It would be short, they told us. Even if we lost, it would be short. And that made us happy; at least if we were defeated we would not lose many lives.

"And, obviously, it wasn't short. And it wasn't a decisive victory. It somehow became a huge war of attrition. The lands that the Gerudo took over and the lands still held by the Royal Family became two nations, and the ever-changing line between them that cleaves Hyrule in two is marked with the bodies of a thousand battles.

"Now there really is no way to judge the clear victor. The war isn't over, of course, but who is doing better, no one can say. It is no longer the field of battle that we knew before. Now battles are not won or lost. They never end---they go on and on until there are not many battles but each month, each year seems as one enormous battle. There are no true battles in this war. The war itself is one long battle, broken up by new claims, new tactics, new invasions, "victories" and "defeats," but not truly victories or defeats. We long for either. Neither comes by day or night. There is no scope of the battles we are fighting. A company of Gerudo head toward a town bent on subverting it to the will of Verletz, a platoon of Hylian royal guard find them, and one side slays the other. That is not a battle in and of itself, but it is just a part of another battle, for the land forty miles east and ten miles west of Lon Lon Ranch, say, and that's just another part of the true battle, the real war, that seeks to claim all of Hyrule for the side of the victor.

"We are the Stone Fists. We are the last of the ancient line of Gorons who inhabit Death Mountain. We are loyal to the empire of Hyrule, but we do not live under its jurisdiction. We want nothing more than to fly the banner of freedom from all towns, all the lands that are held by the Gerudo, but we will not hand it to the Hylians and their monarch. We fight the Gerudo with their own methods. We enter towns they hold and we show the townsfolk the truth of their leaders. We rally them against the Gerudo and win them back to the side of the Hylians. And when the war ends, we will be there to write the declaration of freedom for all peoples, victors and vanquished alike, so that the tragedy that has come to pass will never happen again."

A profound pause passed as I took in all I had heard, not really analyzing all its implications then and there, but storing it away to ponder later. Now was not the time to ponder.

Zelda asked slowly, "Do you stand in opposition to Hyrule and the Royal Family?"

"No," Little Link answered. "We see them as equals. We see their aims against the Gerudo as glorious, but their methods leaving something to be desired. Are not the Hylians who claim cities as their own and levy taxes from their residents no better than the Gerudo who do the same?"

"I should say not!" Zelda retorted. "The Royal Family of Hyrule are just and benevolent leaders!"

"They may be so, but I, and my people, think it's time for a change. We don't want to destroy the Royal Family, but we want its laws to relax, we want it to be more merciful."

"The Royal Family is as merciful as..."Zelda began, indignant.

"Is it? Ask yourself that, Princess. You should know...if you really are the Princess."

There was a painful pause. "So you are the Stone Fists, and you are...sort of a third party? A co-belligerent?" I asked.

"We are more of a resistance movement."

"Resistance? Does that mean you're fighting Verletz from the inside?" I went on.

"Yes," Little Link replied.

"But why are your headquarters here in Death Mountain? Shouldn't they be nearer to the conflict?"

"Nearer to the conflict?" Little Link sputtered. "If we were any nearer, we'd be INSIDE the conflict!"

"What...do you mean?" I asked, trying to put it together.

"We operate out of this citadel to launch raids against the Gerudo bulkhead that is currently besieging Kakariko Village and creeping up Death Mountain around it."

"WHAT?" both Zelda and I said, jaws hitting the floor.

"The Gerudo have made it this far?" Zelda gasped.

"Farther," the Goron replied grimly. "See for yourself."

He turned to a pot standing against the wall and reached in, withdrawing a folded piece of parchment. Unfolding it I saw a familiar map of Hyrule. Only on this map, there was a thick black line drawn practically down the middle of the world. It worked its way from the gates of Gerudo Valley, cutting down towards Lake Hylia, then snaking across Hyrule Field, cutting a path around Lon Lon Ranch, and ending at the gates of Kakariko. All that was on the Lake Hylia side was in red, the other side in yellow. It wasn't totally evenly divided, though: the red stopped and the yellow began when it neared the entrance of the path that leads to Zora's Domain, and the actual waters of Lake Hylia were yellow, although the shores were red.

There were staggering implications to this map, and I didn't have to guess what the red and yellow meant, although the map did not label the colors. My eyes drifted over it again, taking in all it meant.

Gerudo Valley was, clearly, Gerudo, and the red that diffused it confirmed it. Lake Hylia's shores were Gerudo-controlled, but the waters were not...did that mean the solitary, tiny island in the middle was still held by desperate Hylians?

I nearly passed out when I looked at one part of the map again and realized what it meant. Kokiri Forest was totally and completely in the hands of the Gerudo. Except, curiously, the Lost Woods, that seemed to belong to neither side.

But other than that, it was all as blood red as the rest. I thought of Saria, of my home, my friends, my whole life burned to ash...

So far the Zora Domain seemed untouched. But it struck me that the Zora could not get out to the outside world: the path to the Zora domain was blocked, and if they tried to swim through the passage to Lake Hylia, they would find the shores held by the Gerudo. Either the Gerudo were very lucky in their conquests, or they were brilliantly led, and I normally don't believe much in luck.

The red line went around Kakariko, and I suppose it meant that Kakariko was still being conquered. It stopped a little ways up Death Mountain. I supposed that was the "bulkhead" that Little Link spoke of.

Lon Lon Ranch was right on the border, still on the yellow side though. I wondered what had become of Malon and Talon, and whether Ingo had thrown his pathetic lot with the Gerudo this time as well.

All this ran rapidly through my head. Zelda seemed to be thinking along the same lines as well.

"So...you're the leader of a resistance movement...are there others? In occupied territories?" Zelda asked.

"Like Kokiri? What happened to Kokiri Forest?" I demanded, rather rudely.

"Kokiri is..." The Goron paused. "Well...are you from Kokiri?"

"You said I looked like I was, didn't you? Yes, I am, and I'd like to know..."

"How can you be a Liberator and not know?"

"I'm NOT a 'Liberator' or whatever. I just need to know."

"So you're not a Liberator?" he asked in an incredulous voice.

"Just tell me!" I hadn't meant to shout.

Zelda placed a hand on my shoulder. "Link, calm down."

I tensed up and removed her hand. Still speaking to the Goron, I said, as calmly as I could. "Please, just tell me. Please."

He closed his eyes meditatively. "Well, when the Gerudo first came to Kokiri Forest, they did not find much worth conquering. Not much land, no real valuables, and no population to conscript into their army. But Verletz is not known for a lack of thoroughness...or any mercy..."

"So what happened?" I insisted, eyes tearing because I already knew the answer.

"They...they leveled it. Many thousand-year old trees fell to their axes. Trees that had homes in them, trees that contained the magic and memories of ages." He spread his hands regretfully. "Even the Great Deku Tree is now only so many wooden shields."

My head dropped as though it was leaden and my hand went to my forehead. I didn't burst into tears, but a few did trickle down my cheeks. I felt Zelda's arm on my shoulder again, and I didn't bother to shrug it off.

"What became of the Kokiri?" Zelda asked, speaking for me.

"The children of the forest escaped into the Lost Woods. There were almost no casualties, because the Gerudo didn't see them as dangerous or useful. After all, who cares about children who can't fight?" He grinned in an unfriendly manner.

"So they're okay?" she asked, trying to make me feel better.

"Yes. And they're protected by both the Sylvain Liberators and the Lost Woods itself." 


	7. Chapter 7

"The Lost Woods itself?" I asked after a short pause, my curiosity piqued and my sadness ebbing away. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Little Link smiled warmly, as if he knew what he would say would cheer me up. "The Lost Woods is a magical place in a magical forest, like a golden coin in a sea of silver pieces. It is not actively magical, nor is it possessed of some forest spirit that gives it sentience or intelligence in and of itself. The trees there will not come alive to defend themselves, but that is not to say the forest can't defend itself. No, the magic there is very passive. There is simply untapped and untouched magical energy infusing the very soil, and the ancient trees there are imbued with latent magic essence. Warlocks and sorcerers who try to cast their spells there may find that the lambent energy aids, or impedes them. The forest is not alive, but the magic there animates it and gives it the semblance of intellect, which is why many who go through it are convinced that a nature spirit who could, if it wished, bring the trees to life to pulverize intruders possessed the forest. This would not happen based on the whims of some fey, but rather to those who would do the forest wrong, based on their magic properties. Those whose magical identities, magical signatures of sorts, correspond with the magic of the Lost Woods find that their trip through is fairly easy. Those who the forest rejects, however, find themselves hopelessly..."

"Lost," I finished for him.

"Yes, but more than merely lost," the Goron went on. "Lost implies a failure on the part of the traveler. Those with the wrong intent who enter the Lost Woods, try as they might, will never be able to find their way back out."

"What is the 'wrong intent'?" Zelda questioned.

"No one is really sure what the magic of the forest desires. But it is clear that the forest will repel, confuse, and even kill the Gerudo, while sparing the Kokiri and the Sylvain Liberators."

I sighed with relief. "So that's where the Kokiri are hiding. In the Lost Woods."

"Indeed," said Little Link. "Lord Verletz was furious that he had been fended off by a bunch of children and their trees. When Hylians sympathetic to the Kokiri banded together in the Lost Woods to retaliate, forming the Sylvain Liberators, his ire was only increased. He vowed to lay waste to the Lost Woods and slay the survivors to a man."

"What happened?"

"He sent a large army, easily larger than would be needed to slaughter the whole of the Sylvain Liberators. But having such a large army was in itself a disadvantage. As it marched into the Lost Woods, it began getting separated. Soldiers would wander off and be found many miles away by totally different divisions of the force. Of those who were found, alive, some were merely bewildered, others they had totally lost their minds. After a minimal advance into the forest, they retreated. But retreating from the Lost Woods, at least for them, was a terrible ordeal."

"How?"

"The separation began getting worse. Marching troops would stare at the ground and look up to see that there was no one else in sight. Anyone who stopped, even briefly, would be lost. Soon there was not a central command and a unified army, but small groups clinging tenaciously together, never letting their eyes wander off each other, in the hopes of escaping. It played havoc with their nerves."

"I can imagine," Zelda added.

"Originally, Verletz had tried to have a series of messengers go from the front lines back to Gerudo Valley regularly, to tell him of the progress being made. Obviously, the messengers disappeared. So Verletz ordered another group, smaller this time and better disciplined, in to try and find the army he had sent."

"They disappeared too, didn't they?" I asked.

"Yes. Of the Gerudo who returned from the Lost Woods, only a few were in their right minds. The ones that were told a strange and terrible tale, and Verletz called off the invasion. No maps of the Lost Woods were made, and the area has been abandoned by both the Hylian army and Verletz's."

"But the Kokiri could navigate it?" I wondered.

"Yes. For them, the forest was quite confusing as well, but not nearly so deadly. They eventually found, with a bit of trial and error, a safe haven."

"That must be the Sacred Forest Meadow, and the Forest Temple," Zelda said to me.

"What? What are you talking about?" Little Link said, quizzically.

"Nothing," I answered. "When I went through the Lost Woods as a child the first time, when I took a wrong turn, I came out back where I had started. Eventually, just by guessing and with a little luck, I managed to get through it. And it didn't change. When I came back, I knew the way, and it worked," I said to no one in particular, thinking out loud.

"That sounds like what the Sylvains describe the Lost Woods as," Little Link said.

"So I guess the magic of the Lost Woods...'accepts' me, and them, but not the Gerudo," I returned. "Well, I guess the forest has some self-preservation instinct..."

There was a pause. "My! How we've talked! I scarcely remember how we got stated on all this!" Little Link said. "Ah yes. The long-lost purpose of your summons."

"What is on your mind?" Zelda asked.

"It is a matter I am sure will be of importance to you," the Goron answered, folding his hands. "I must ask you. Do you intend to stay here as part of the Stone Fists? If you are truly not Liberators, just dressed as them, I suppose we could induct you to the Fists, although we haven't had any non-Goron members yet."

Zelda looked as if she wanted to accept. It was understandable; after all, as it was, we were rather naked, without a clan or 'resistance cell' to protect us, and perhaps joining one would quell suspicions as to our actions.

But I remembered what Sheik had said about the Sages, and the quest I would have to fulfill. Darunia was a Sage, yes, but if we were tied down by affiliation to one cell, we could not find the other Sages except by extraordinary good luck.

"Perhaps, Zelda, you could stay here, but I cannot."

Zelda looked somewhat surprised, but not as surprised as I thought she would be. "Why?"

"I will explain later...in private."

Zelda nodded, but I could tell she was still confused.

"So you do not wish to become Fists," Little Link said. It was a statement, not a question.

"I am afraid we cannot, for the nature of our mission requires a bit more...wandering than the life of a Fist soldier could provide," I said guardedly.

"In that case, you must leave."

"What?" Zelda asked, amazed. "You...but..."

"I'm afraid if you can't fight for us, we can't support you," the Goron said grimly. "Frankly, you two are the oddest surface-dwellers I've ever met, and I don't know..."

"I beg your pardon!" Zelda shot back, incredulous. "Are you afraid of us? Do you think we're insane? Are we going to go on a killing spree?"

"No no no!" the Goron returned. "I personally don't care about your mental health. But Death Mountain isn't a hotel. I can't say that your story didn't intrigue me, but what do you want me to do for you?"

Zelda seemed ready to say something, but didn't.

Little Link was right. Why does he owe us any favors? And even if he did, what would we ask him to do for us? Come with us? Of course not. We didn't need any supplies, I had all my equipment and we seemed all right for food and such.

Zelda had wanted to know, way back when we had first began talking as children about the first quest, why I hadn't tried to get anyone to help me. I told her that there was no one who could do so. I was a lone warrior. I didn't want an army or a base or followers, and frankly I didn't need any. No one could give me any aid that could be of use.

Now was a similar situation. This was my quest, and I needed to go alone. Even if Little Link had been inclined to offer me aid, I would have declined it.

"He's right, Zelda," I said to her. "He can't help us. What we need is...well...I'll tell you later."

I half-expected Little Link, who had shown himself to be quite inquisitive, to ask what we wanted. But when I looked at him expectantly, he said, "What? I don't care what you require. To be honest, if you are on some mystical quest, O Hero of Time, I don't feel like helping. What's in it for me? And what good could I do you?"

"You're right," said Zelda, sighing. "We don't need anything from you."

What we really needed Darunia. We needed some way to awaken him to his Sagely duties. He seemed now to be oblivious of them, and quite disinclined to deviate from his current life.

The Sages that I had encountered on my first quest were awakened after helping me to conquer a Temple. I wasn't sure how the Temple part would work out, but I knew that I would have to get Darunia to help on my quest, somehow. But of course, I couldn't tell Little Link that we needed to take Darunia so he could awaken to mystic power, at least not while expecting to be believed.

"What would help us, sir, would be a little while to stay here while we...get our bearings. We need to formulate a plan of action, and that could take time, and information that you might have."

The Goron's face turned stern. "I said before that we don't run an inn. We can't afford to house you and feed you, much less support your research project. Lieutenant Darunia has been very and uncommonly generous in letting you stay with him thus far. I think he now expects you will be on your way."

"But...just a little time..." Zelda pleaded.

"We know nothing of what has happened in the last seven years, and we don't know where to go from here. We need some time to figure out our next destination."

"You have no home? No family?"

I shook my head.

"Well, there's your problem! You don't want to become Fists, but you have no alternative! You're no better than homeless bums!"

Zelda practically shook with anger. "We are NOT bums! We..."

"You're not literally, but how are you any better? If your story is true, that's all well and good, but it makes you nothing but homeless amnesiacs with an amazing life story, for all that does you! You don't have jobs, you don't have a home... You can accept a life as a Fist, and we will provide for you. But if you don't want a job, we can't help you any more than we could help a beggar who appeared before me asking for help."

"You heartless..." Zelda began.

"Heartless? Lady, I'm not heartless, I just can't do anything for you! If a beggar stumbled into this place, we'd bring him before me as soon as we could, and ask him if he wanted to join us, just as I have to you. If he said yes, we'd provide him soldiering gear, regular meals, his own apartment. If he said no, what in blazes do you think we should do? Help him get a job? Waltz past the Gerudo siege forces into Kakariko and ask if anyone is interested in providing room and board to a homeless man? Look for a carpenter in need of an apprentice? We're not a charity, we're an army!"

Zelda fell silent. I was glad she had the spirit to put up a fight, but Little Link was clearly right.

"I have offered you your choices. You can become a Stone Fist, or you can go elsewhere in search of work. Didn't your parents ever tell you how to be well-adjusted, upright adults?"

"I never knew my parents," I said listlessly.

"That's a tough break, but I can't..." Little Link began.

"That, and if you remember right, we've been in stasis for seven years," Zelda added pointedly.

"Look, it doesn't matter!" Little Link said, getting impatient. "Choose! Stay or leave?"

"But we cannot stay..." Zelda started.

"Then your choice is clear! You will leave at dawn tomorrow," the Goron said, exasperated.

Zelda said nothing else.

"Thank you for your hospitality," I said to the Goron, not sarcastic. "We wish you well."

"As do I. But that's all I can do, wish," Little Link replied. "Darunia will house you tonight, and we will escort you to the limits of our territory."

"Thank you," I said, not really feeling anything.

"You may go," he said dismissively.

We trudged back to Darunia's small quarters in silence. Zelda seemed pretty upset, but I didn't really care. After all, he was right---what help could he be? Zelda seemed to think he had been very rude, though.

Reaching the little alcove Darunia called home, we entered, not bothering to knock. He was there on his bed, reading a book, surprisingly. He didn't strike me as a great intellectual.

"Well, what happened? As if I need you to answer that," he said abruptly.

"Then we won't," Zelda said coldly in return.

"We were told we had to leave," I said anyway.

"Though that'd be the case. Honestly, if you don't want to become a Fist like me, what would we have done with you?" Darunia said.

"We've heard this all before!" Zelda responded, raising her voice. "Your beloved leader gave us the very same speech."

"I thought he would. So, when are you going?" Darunia seemed to be getting less and less sociable as the hours went by.

"Tomorrow morning," I told him wearily.

"Oh great, and I suppose it's my duty to make beds for you. Why is it my job? All I did was find you, no one appointed me to be your babysitter."

"That reminds me," I said, ignoring his rudeness. "What were you doing when you found us?"

"Well, we had heard that two prisoners were taken. They had been found unconscious, and they were taken to the stronghold that the Gerudo maintain at the foot of Death Mountain, just a little ways into the passages."

"That's us. But do you know why we were allowed to keep our stuff?" I asked, referring to the Master Sword and my other equipment.

"This is just what I've heard, but apparently Lord Verletz gave orders to imprison the captives without looting their bodies. He wanted to come and inspect their belongings personally---as if he was looking for something important to him. He told the Gerudo to leave all their possessions exactly where they were. I guess you have something he wants, and doesn't want anyone else to have...not even his own minions."

"I wonder..." I mused.

"Anyway, these prisoners were getting special treatment, so we though they must be important. And if they were important, the last thing we want is for the Gerudo to have them. So I was sent on a reconnaissance mission to find where they were keeping you, and to bring you back, if possible."

"I see," said Zelda.

"But I guess the leader didn't find you to be as important as we thought, or he'd have different plans for you."

I thought to myself how arrogant it was for him to imagine that his leader had the right to make "plans" with the lives of others, but didn't say anything aloud.

"Anyway, I'm going to be leaving on a night mission any minute now. Stay out of trouble, and by the time I get back you'll probably be gone, so say any tearful goodbyes now rather than later," he said, turning to the door.

"I don't have a tearful goodbye for you, Darunia. But I did have 'plans,' as you might say, for you as well. But I guess I'll have to deal with that later," I said.

Zelda looked a little confused, I think she realized that Darunia was a Sage and I wanted to do something with him.

"YOU have plans for ME?" Darunia asked incredulously. "What makes you think that...I mean...honestly!" he said, flabbergasted.

"Yeah, I guess we shouldn't bother then," I answered.

Darunia seemed somewhat tickled that we had been making plans about him, but hid it pretty well. It was pretty obvious he didn't enjoy the life of a soldier very much. "Count me out of whatever it is you're thinking. Now be good!" he said, and shut the door.

A few moments passed as Zelda and I spread out our bedrolls in the more- spacious bedroom, tactfully deciding not to sleep in Darunia's bed, although he certainly didn't deserve out good manners.

"What did you mean we had 'plans' for Darunia?" Zelda asked. "I mean, he's a Sage, or at least he is in the other timeline, but he's not a Sage here and now..." Zelda asked, sitting on the bedroll.

"Well, he wasn't a Sage in the other timeline, to begin with," I answered, following suit, although it wasn't bedtime yet. "He was just a normal person, albeit a pretty important person, but normal. Only when he helped me in the Fire Temple and I had killed Volvogia did he become a Sage."

"Same with the other Sages too," Zelda added.

"So...I don't know precisely how we'd do it, but I had hoped we could awaken Darunia as a Sage somehow while we were here."

"But there isn't any Temple this time. Darunia would have to awaken as a Sage some other way. It seems like Sages awaken when they perform heroic deeds that aid the Hero of Time. But it doesn't seem like there will be any opportunities for heroic deeds around here."

"Maybe..."

Zelda paused. "But...what if we don't awaken him as a Sage at all?"

"No! We have to, I'm sure that would help us a lot," I said, not letting on that I had talked with Sheik and knew that awakening him was precisely what we had to do.

"I don't know...Rauru never said anything about the Sages. We haven't had any mystical prophet tell us that we must find the Sages to defeat Verletz. And maybe Darunia isn't even a Sage anyway! Maybe he will never become a Sage. Maybe it's just a coincidence that there's a person named Darunia. Or maybe this is the real Darunia, but some other person is the Sage of Fire. Maybe Little Link!"

I was about to agree with her, because her logic sounded reasonable, when I remembered what Sheik had said. He told me that Darunia was the Sage of Fire, indirectly, but still making in clear. He had said I knew that the Sage of Fire resides here as a lowly soldier. And he had agreed with me when I said that the other Sages were still Saria, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru, so logically Darunia would still be the Sage of Fire if the others were still Sages.

"No..." I said haltingly. "Darunia is still the Sage of Fire. And we definitely have to awaken the Sages. It was the only way we won last time, it must be the way to win this time."

"What makes you so sure?" Zelda asked suspiciously.

"It's just a hunch, okay?" I said rather testily. It was one of the few times I had lied, directly, to Zelda, and it gave me a bad feeling. I didn't want to freak her out by revealing that her doppelganger had a mind of its own and was helping me out, and I didn't want to burden her with grim tidings and long, dangerous quests. Even though it had become pretty clear that she wasn't going to let me go alone, I still wished she'd stay out of the quest and just lay low.

"All right, all right, I'm sorry. You just sounded so sure of yourself."

"Well, what are the alternatives to finding the Sages? Attacking Verletz and his army alone?"

"All right! You're right, Link! You're right!" she said somewhat sadly, turning away from me.

"I'm sorry," I said slowly to her.

"Why? You're right! You didn't do anything wrong," she said evasively.

"I'm sorry I made you upset."

"I'm not upset," she said, upset.

"I just...this is very important. I'm sorry," I repeated, not knowing what to say. I put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

"Just drop the subject, okay?" she said, not angrily but more coldly as she brushed my hand off.

"Fine."

The rest of the day was uneventful. I shopped again, finding a different Goron manning the helm, and I wisely use the paper money I had gotten to avoid arousing suspicion. I was learning pretty fast how to be an outlaw, I realized.

We ate dinner pretty much in silence. I don't really think we were mad at each other; it wasn't like we weren't speaking to each other at all, but it had been a stressful day and there was a lot to think about. I guess we weren't in the mood for conversation.

We said goodnights to each other, but they were solemn, because it was the last night we would be safely here, guarded from the evil that seemed to be everywhere. We'd find some way to get by, I was sure, but it wasn't going to be easy. 


	8. Chapter 8

I did fall asleep, and I did dream, a little. Fortunately the visions I was having when I was asleep weren't making me fatigued the next day, and they weren't so horrible that I didn't want to sleep. They weren't all that bad since I knew what was happening, and what would happen.

This time was pretty uninteresting. I was heading on foot from Kokiri to Kakariko. But I passed Lon Lon ranch, and on a whim decided to head inside. I saw Ingo there, the same as he was the first time, and once again I challenged him to a horse race and won Epona. I rode with her to Kakariko, and after moving through town, I started up Death Mountain on my way to the Fire Temple.

I awoke not really in a panic, since the dreams and visions were becoming regular and, of course, Sheik had told me they would happen. This time seemed to have been the interval between when I defeated Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple and when I entered Death Mountain and met Little Link. Not only was it chronologically after my most recent vision, that of the battle with Phantom Ganon, but it seemed to correspond with the fact that I was in Death Mountain and meeting with Little Link currently in this timeline as well.

I rolled over in bed to find Navi asleep as well, and thought of awakening her to protect Zelda for a while. I didn't feel much like going back to sleep and seeing more of my past adventure. I couldn't fall asleep again anyway if I had tried. Too much was on my mind. I was about to wake Navi when I turned and saw Zelda was gone. Worried, I left Navi sound asleep, got up, and exited Darunia's house.

She was there, sitting on a ledge in her nightclothes looking down into the now-quiet center of Death Mountain, where there was still the large, familiar ceremonial Goron pot. She turned to me, surprised, and blurted, "What are you doing here?"

"Finding out what YOU'RE doing here," I responded, taking a seat next to her. "Can't sleep?"

"Can you?"

"I wouldn't be here if I could, you know."

"Well, I wouldn't be here if I could either, then," she retorted.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh...nothing. What's wrong with you?"

"Oh, you want me to get the list?" I quipped.

"Seriously. Is there anything the matter?"

"Not really, no...I had another vision..."

"You did? Tell me about it!"

"It's nothing. I didn't get hurt or anything. I just saw myself going from Kokiri Forest to Death Mountain on my way to the Fire Temple. It's not a big deal."

"Yes it is! Goodness, Link, you're acting like having out-of-body experiences all the time is nothing to be concerned about."

"Well, I think they're normal," I said, not thinking about what I was saying.

"What? How is that possible? No one in their right mind..."

"When did I say I was in my right mind?" I smiled, secretly trying to get her to forget I had mentioned what I thought about my visions.

"You're hiding something." She sounded much more serious all of a sudden.

"Why would I hide anything from you?"

"You think it'd be too much for me?" she said with odd prescience.

"Well, I mean..."

"Whatever you know that I don't is hurting us both. What makes you think that whatever is troubling you will be too much for me to even handle?"

"Nothing! It's just that you don't need to know, and it would just upset you."

"You're guessing at what will and won't upset me? How dare you! I don't plot behind your back!"

"I'm not plotting!"

"How is keeping a secret from me any better?"

"I don't want it troubling you!"

"And I don't want it troubling you! And it'll trouble you less if you just tell me!"

"Okay...you're right...but...it just doesn't concern you."

"Honestly, name one thing that could possibly, in our current situation, concern you but not me."

"Umm...well, there's..."

"Don't answer that!" she said testily. "Just tell me what the problem is."

"Okay, okay. Listen. You swear to me that when Sheik appeared to help me in my quest, it was you?"

"Yes..."

"Every time?"

"Yes."

"All the time? You were dressed as Sheik every single second?"

"Yes!"

"There's no one else who could have known?"

"No Link! Is THAT what's bothering you?"

"No...no. Listen. When I went out to buy breakfast this morning, I saw Sheik."

"Huh? What do you mean by that? You saw someone dressed like him?"

"No, Zelda. I saw Sheik, alive, fleshy, exactly like how you looked as him in every way, but it clearly wasn't you."

"No way. That can't be possible."

"Trust me. It's what happened...I swear..."

"Link..." she looked unbelievably shocked. "Wh...what could this..."

She turned pale, deathly pale, and I panicked. I was afraid she was going to faint. But she didn't seem like she would, if all her assurance of her fortitude meant anything.

She didn't faint, but ran a nervous hand through her hair. "How is this possible?" she said flatly.

I spread my hands wide. "To be honest, I don't know. I have no idea. And that's what's scaring me so much."

"What did he say?"

"Basically, he outlined what we had to do."

"W...which is?" Zelda stammered, sounding somewhat afraid but mostly tense with expectation.

"He told me that I had taken a fork in a river different from the one I took first, which I think refers to how I killed Ganondorf," I replied. Zelda nodded mutely.

"Then he said that the two rivers ran parallel, and in points I would be able to see myself paddling down the other side, where the trees were thin. Those must be my visions." Zelda nodded again, swallowing.

"He then told me that, like last time, my only hope is to awaken all the Sages and use their power to confront Verletz in combat. He said the Sages were still the same people...like Darunia."

"So that's..."

"Yes. That's why I was so sure that we needed to find the Sages...because I was told so. And that's why I wanted to stay here longer, to try and awaken Darunia as a Sage. But now..."

"Oh..."

"And then he said..." I paused, knowing what I was about to say would hit Zelda the hardest. "He said when you were dressed as him, you were simply the incarnation that he would manifest as in that timeline...that he would always exist, no matter how time flowed, like Ganondorf and Rauru and you and me..."

"So I was just like a puppet? His will forced into my body? But...who IS he?"

"I don't know."

"Oh Link...you...why didn't you..." Zelda was breathing heavily now, and her hands had been firmly planted on the ground beside her as if she was bracing in expectance of a blow.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"I...I think...this is just such a big..."

"I know. I'm sorry, Zelda, I tried to tell you that it would make you upset..."

"N...no, it's not that. I'm not upset...it's just that I'm rather...rather shocked...understandably...I feel..." She trailed off, her face looking pale and bloodless. Her eyes fluttered for a moment, and then shut with terrible finality. She lurched as if pushed from behind a bit, and gasped, and then...slowly slid off the edge of the cliff and fell...

"NO!"

My hand went for hers...

* * *

A mile or so away as the crow flies, or rather as a mole burrows, for the passageways that twisted their way towards that point from Goron City total up to more than a mile even for a flying crow, a company of Gerudo soldiers, torches casting off thick smoke into the cramped cavern, were winding their way about in the dark, trailing a rope behind them.

"Better than the Lost Woods, I guess," Malon said as she trailed her rope behind the company.

"Yeah, at least here you can follow the rope back to the source..." said another, voice somewhat morose.

"Don't remind me," said a third.

"Cut the chatter, or at least keep it to a dull roar," Nabooru snapped as she pressed onward, squinting in spite of the darkness from the smoke of her torch. "Sound can carry quite a ways through these caverns.

"What? These caverns are so tight I have to walk around hunched over like a cripple!" a soldier replied.

"What does that have to do with anything?" another responded, indignant.

"Well, sounds would be absorbed in the walls, or stifled, or something," another said.

"You're all idiots," Nabooru shot back. "It echoes like anything in here. That's why the Gorons live here. They can move silently, but they can hear everyone else who even so much as snaps a finger in here."

As she tramped on she continued, "It might take a minute or two, but the echoes reverberate to pretty much anywhere in this whole mountain. It's just a matter of time.

The party marched on in silence for a minute. They passed on the left side of the tunnel a yawning black hole, leading to a tunnel that slanted downward fairly steeply for farther than their torches could illuminate. Nabooru marched by it without a word, and the rest of the company followed suit, at this point not caring about which caverns they explored and which they didn't. A cave lizard, white and eyeless, scurried out of the hole and eyed, or rather smelled, the tramping warriors. A soldier saw it and idly kicked a loose rock towards it. The lizard jumped like lightning away from it and onto the side of the hole, while the rock careened and dashed against the walls for a good long while.

The entire party froze, rooted where they stood, as they listened for about ten seconds until at last a wet splash welled up from the void. Another ten seconds of reverberations followed.

The soldiers, seized with paralysis, did not notice Nabooru draw her blade, shaped somewhat like a boomerang with a broadened end with a bent blade similar to a sickle but less pronounced, called a kukri, and threw it with deadly precision at the offending soldier, who fell dead with a gurgle in a fraction of a second with the blade lodged lengthwise across her throat.

As the party continued to stand perfectly still, eyes straining to catch what their captain was doing, Nabooru retrieved her kukri and wrapped a length of her uniform around the base of the blade and wiped forward, the fabric failing to absorb all the blood and shoving the extra off the tip of the blade. Thick red fluid dripped onto the stone floor. As an afterthought she gave a powerful kick to the corpse and launched it tumbling into the black hole.

"Seemed appropriate," she muttered enigmatically, continuing to march.

Malon listened to the dull, deadened sound, muffled and softer than the rock, the sound of the body tumbling down into the water below to join the rock that killed her. The lizard seemed to smile.

As she listened, she thought she heard something else---something that sounded like a shout or a cry. It sounded like a voice, definitely, and a voice that wasn't one of them.

"Did you hear that?" Malon whispered to a soldier next to her, oblivious to how awkward it would have been to be the first one to speak after one of their comrades had been sentenced to death and executed within the span of a second.

"Umm, yeah, the rock, the clanging, the thud of the kukri in her neck, then her body tumbling..." the soldier began.

"It sounded like someone yelling something. I swear..."

"Hey, me too. Great. We have so much in common," the soldier returned caustically.

"Ass." Malon shoved the soldier out of the way and marched to Nabooru. "Capitan?"

"What is it?"

"I heard a noise. It sounded like someone shouting something, a word. I couldn't tell clearly."

"Really. And in which direction?"

"Hmm...that way...north...north by northeast."

"Let us wait then, and listen for it again."

"Do you think it will come again? I don't know..."

"Don't listen to her, Capitan, the woman's insane," the soldier Malon had shoved opined.

"You. Two extra shifts."

The soldier stood down, scowling. She muttered under her breath, "These Gorons aren't idiots, they wouldn't have yelled to begin with."

"That's true, but what if they did? What if Malon's right?" Nabooru mused. "Why not? We aren't going anywhere else. Our mission is to find the Goron city, and wandering around aimlessly seems a pretty bad way to do it. If there's a tunnel that leads toward where Malon heard whatever she heard, we'll go there."

"I don't think..." the soldier began.

"I've noticed. But fortunately that's not what you're here for. March," Nabooru commanded.

The soldier muttered something that started with "Malon" and ended with "bitch" but acquiesced. The rest of the company followed. Malon felt terrible, she'd made an enemy already and had yet to make a friend, and it seemed to her that she wouldn't in the future, as long as acting like an obnoxious sycophant was not an appealing trait. She was glad Nabooru seemed to tolerate her, and that's all that really mattered in the end if she wanted to get home alive and well. She didn't much care for the other soldier anyway.

That other soldier, in one lifetime, one timeframe, had been a nice woman with an allergy to Cucoos who had asked Link to retrieve them for her. She'd given him a bottle for his trouble. Now she was a soldier, dedicated to bloodshed for profit and survival. She had several scars and was on a fast track to acquiring more. She was a testament to how much a little change can affect the future.

* * *

"NO!"

My hand went for hers...

A feeling unlike any I had felt before overtook me: the feeling of soft, warm flesh in my hand. It was unlike any I had felt before, even though it wasn't a unique sensation. But it was there. My hand had grabbed something, and it felt like Zelda's hand.

Pulling a dead weight from the edge of a cliff isn't something that you can do every day. I felt like I had just dislocated my shoulder when the shock of me arresting her fall hit, and for a second I was afraid I would go over with her. But I didn't, and she didn't.

In a couple adrenaline-soaked seconds it was over. She was back on the stone ground, breathing shallowly but still unconscious, pale, frail-looking. Seeing her in that state shook me, not really in a bad way but more in a revelatory way. It proved that under her self-reliant, headstrong self there was a delicate, vulnerable little girl who lived in a castle and was rich. Without words or gestures or even conscious thought she looked to me like she was a child of 10 again on the run in the big, dangerous world, with only me to protect her. It was reassuring in a way. I was comforted by the fact that I had been able to help her when she needed it.

A couple more seconds of tense, thoughtless cool-down and she was back, slowly, gracefully almost, her eyes fluttering open and shut and open, her breath coming back gradually, her hands at her sides moving up to touch and feel herself and me to reassure that she was alive and there.

"Link?"

"It's all right. I'm here. It's okay." It was a horrible, condescending thing to say, and I don't know why I did it.

She didn't respond, but clutched at the folds of my tunic as a child her mother's skirts, eyes shut again as though she were going to cry, forehead against my collarbone, shaking with emotion.

"It's okay..."

She let go, and sat up a bit, propping herself up with an elbow. "Link? I'm all right? What happened?"

"You looked like you had a seizure or something, then...your eyes just closed and you sort of slid off the edge."

"And you..."

"I managed to catch you by the hand and drag you back up here. You were unconscious for about fifteen seconds, then...here we are.

"I...you...you saved my life..."

"Oh please. You sound like a fairy tale," I grinned. "Don't say something hokey like 'I guess we can call it even now.'"

At this she laughed, and joyfully threw her arms around me for a moment before sinking back to the floor. "You did though. And there's no way we're even now, the score was about five hundred to one when we started."

"So what do you think happened?" I immediately regretted saying that, because it injected harsh, analytical reality into an otherwise blissful moment of pure relief.

"Well...I'm not sure..." She sounded upset, and I mentally kicked myself. "But I do know one thing. Those fifteen seconds weren't just a blank."

"Really?"

"Yes...I had a vision."

"What? No way."

"You sound like me now," Zelda observed. "Yes, I had a vision. You don't seem to be bothered by them, I mean, you have Sheik's word."

"But Sheik never said anything about you having visions."

"Well, I did, regardless of what he said."

"So, what did you see?"

"Well..." she leaned back contemplatively. "I remember sort of freezing up after I had said I was shocked. I just saw the back of my eyelids for about a half-second, and I felt myself slipping. I tried to call out but I felt paralyzed. Then, right when I was in free-fall, I started having the vision."

"That was right when I grabbed your hand."

"Do you think...do you think maybe you somehow triggered it? I mean, the last time I had a vision, it was when we teleported, and when we did, I was touching you."

"You were? I hadn't noticed."

"Well, I was...I was a little scared, I guess."

"Ah ha! The truth comes out. You CAN be scared," I joked.

"You know that. Everyone gets scared. Well, anyway, I had a vision. It was when I met you, as Sheik, in the top of Death Mountain right before you entered the Fire Temple. I saw myself as Sheik telling you about...it was about friendship, right?"

"Yeah...time's river may change, but friends will remain..." I recollected.

"So I talked to you about that, and taught you the Bolero of Fire, and then I disappeared in a flash of light."

"How DID you do that?"

Zelda gave me a look. "ANYway, after the flash I saw something totally new."

"New? Like how?"

"Like it didn't happen to me in that timeline. It wasn't something I remembered."

"What was it?"

"I saw many Gerudo invading Death Mountain. I saw the Gorons and the others here in this stronghold fighting to defend the city. The Gorons were winning, but suddenly, one of the big passageways began to glow red. The Gorons and the Gerudo who were near the tunnel screamed and ran. Then out of the tunnel undulated a giant dragon, incredibly long, and made of fire and lava with a huge leering head."

"Volvagia..."

"It breathed fire and burnt dozens of people, Gerudo and Goron alike. Then it rocketed up to the ceiling, flying as if by magic, and rammed into it. The ceiling started collapsing, there were huge chunks of rock falling and crushing people, breaking through bridges, smashing the pot down there. Then I saw the dragon disappear onto another tunnel, and someone shouting about it. A brave Goron ran off after the dragon into the glowing tunnel it had left by. And then...there you were."

"This is very strange. It sounds..."

"...almost like a prophecy."

"But what about the first part? What does that vision mean?"

"I don't know. If some higher power is trying to show us something, it did, I guess, but it also threw in something I'd already seen."

"Wait. Think about it. My vision tonight was of me going to the Fire Temple. Then you had a vision of meeting me right at the Fire Temple. It's going in chronological order."

"It's like the timeline is running in the background while we're doing this."

There was a long, meditative pause.

"Shall we go back to bed?" I asked.

"Not on your life. I couldn't sleep if you ordered me to. And I don't much feel like seeing any more death or pain..." I could feel the sadness and apprehension in her voice. I felt sorry for her because I was fairly sure that by the time this was all over she'd have to have seen more than her fair share of death and pain. Pulling the arrows out of my body had been a good start.

"Well, we can't just sit here until we go numb."

"Do you want to take a walk and, you know...talk?"

"Sure. Where?"

"Oh, anywhere. I just want to move around a bit."

"We probably shouldn't wander off into parts unknown, at least not without a rope or something to follow back."

"All right, we'll stick to where you know how to get around. From before."

"Okay." I extended a hand and she accepted, and I pulled her off the cold stone floor. She wobbled a bit, but was steady enough on her feet.

We wandered a little ways, familiar, safe paths. We didn't talk about any heavy stuff, just mostly about our lives, our hopes and dreams. Zelda wanted to live a normal life with normal people, she said. It didn't surprise me as much as it could have, not after everything we'd been through thus far.

Then I heard something. We were walking along near a wall, and it seemed like the wall was vibrating, or picking up a vibration, like a vibrating tuning fork. The sound resonated into my ears. It sounded sharp, crackling, like something striking solidly against something else. It sounded several times, as though it was striking frequently. I imagined a rock thrown into a very deep well. About ten seconds later it stopped.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Zelda.

"No. What was it?"

"How could you have not heard that?"

"I don't know, how could you HAVE heard it?"

"It sounded like someone had thrown a rock into a well. A bunch of clattering, banging sounds."

"That's funny...do you think someone dropped a rock down some hole somewhere near here?"

"That wouldn't be good, this city needs to be quiet and secretive. I don't think any Gorons would do that..."

"Darunia moved so quietly I thought we'd lost him, when we were back there in the passages. I doubt he'd be so stupid as to kick a rock into a hole and make all those echoes."

"But it sounded like it had come from far away. Like it was only reaching me because the sound carried through the rocks. I don't think it came out of a passageway or something."

"Then maybe..."

"Maybe it was someone lost in the passages somewhere?"

"That...or Gerudo."

"Yikes."

"Indeed, it would be grave news. If you actually heard it, that is."

"I heard it! I'm not crazy yet."

"Are you sure you're not under stress?"

"If anything, you'd be the one cracking from the tension. You just nearly plummeted to your d..."

I stopped in mid-sentence and heard something else. It was a lot like what I had heard before, but even more muffled, strained. I put my ear to the rock to hear it better. It sounded duller and heavier than the crisp, clear impact-noises I had heard earlier. I thought this time of a sack of flour thrown into a well.

"That settles it."

"What settles what?" Zelda asked.

"The noises I just heard, they settled the issue of whether we're going to go check it out."

"What noises? Check what out?"

"I heard another noise. It sounded like the one I had heard earlier but more muffled and dull. It sounded like a pillow with a brick in it thrown into a well."

"Remarkably specific there."

"Really, though. I think it could be something serious."

"Like what?"

"Well, like you said. It could be the Gerudo."

"What are the odds of that?"

"The map showed the Gerudo had a stronghold at the foot of Death Mountain. The Gorons oppose them relentlessly. Do you think they'd just sit there and let them raid and pillage, or would Verletz wipe them out?"

Zelda nodded slowly. "Which direction did you hear it from?"

"This wall here. That way."

"I don't see a passage near there."

"That's true..." I ran an idle hand across the wall, but I felt something odd. "Zelda, come here a minute."

"What?"

"Hold your head up to this spot here." She put her face to the wall, and I watched the stray hairs that fell on the sides of her head. They moved perceptibly from a breeze.

"Can you feel that?"

"What?"

I ran a hand across the spot, and prodded. It sunk in and with a rumble, a secret passage opened.

"How..."

"Your hair was moving from the breeze. Let's go."

"We're going to get lost."

"We won't."

"Yes we will!"

"Trust me. Please."

"How will we know how to get back?"

"I'll chip the rocks as we go and we'll follow the marks back."

"You sure?"

"Yeah! Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Right behind my sense of self-preservation."

"Oh, come on."

"All right, I'll do it for you, but I don't know what you expect to find. An army of Gerudo?"

"Maybe."

She moved closer and looked me in the eye. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't if you won't."

"Darn. I thought I had you for a moment there." She smiled sweetly.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing out here!" A shrill, familiar voice was advancing on us. I turned to intercept my fairy.

"What do you think YOU'RE doing out here?"

"I asked first!" the fairy replied indignantly. "I'm sick of you two wandering off. Do you want to be...alone...that badly?"

I sighed. "Yes. But not how YOU'RE imagining it."

Navi giggled. "Oh really!"

"Sorry Link, but we're going on an adventure, and I think she's obliged to come with us," Zelda cooed.

"Okay, but could you TELL me first?" Navi fluttered about. "What's going on?"

"I heard suspicious noises. We're going to investigate."

"Okay." Navi ducked into a fold of my clothing and disappeared. It was disconcerting at first when she did that. It was like she was disappearing into my body. I guess its just another one of her fairy tricks.

"I need light, you know."

"Sorry." The fairy whirled out of...well, somewhere.

"Ready?" Zelda asked.

"Ready." I withdrew the Master Sword and gave the wall a ceremonial whack with its hilt. A small piece broke off. And with that we set off into the darkness, Navi's glow illuminating our way.


	9. Chapter 9

Nabooru and company marched through a twisting network of catacombs. Based only on where Malon thought she heard the noise, they turned into branching-off passageways and forks blindly, only their rope trailing behind them keeping them from being hopelessly lost, which admittedly they were, sort of.

"Malon's nuts," someone remarked under her breath. "Capitan too."

"I might be nuts, but do you have a better plan? Left," Malon said as they passed a tunnel branch.

"We're disobeying orders, you know."

"How?" Nabooru answered. "Were our orders 'Ignore Malon?'"

"No, our orders were to find the Goron city."

"And that's what we're doing. We have a lead now."

"But Malon couldn't have heard anything. No one else heard anything. She's going crazy."

"You will defame Malon's character no more, private."

"But what if she's wrong?"

"So what if she is? We might find the city anyway."

They marched still in silence. In that silence, suddenly, they heard something more. This time everyone did. It was clear and sharp. It sounded like a pick against stone, somewhat like the rock had sounded. The party stopped dead and listened. But it did not come again soon.

"Well?"

"That settles that, we're going to investigate." Nabooru strode confidently down the tunnel from which the sound seemed to originate.

"I guess it makes sense."

"I suppose Malon was right, then. Good job."

Malon smiled with the warmth of the compliments.

* * *

THWACK!

Another chip of stone dropped to the floor. The rock here was soft, sandstone I think, and it flaked off easily. Zelda and I were talking softly about this and that, staying on our guard. We talked to begin with at least, but soon we had fell silent and just listened stealthily.

There was a slight breeze from the cavern, and on the wind, every now and then I heard noises. I don't think they were real. They were just nerves. Zelda thought she heard some of them too, but they seemed unreal. They sounded like footsteps, stealthy and furtive, or hushed whispers speaking gibberish. But they were just products of my heated imagination.

Then I heard something that was definitely not in my head, and I stopped and reached out a hand to stop Zelda. There were the sounds of heavy footfalls from beyond a bend in the tunnel. Then an orange light began to grow---torchlight. Presently I heard voices, quiet but distinct, although I couldn't figure out what they were saying. The light flared stronger, and I clutched Zelda by the hand and dived with her into a convenient side passageway and crouched low behind the rocks.

The first thing I saw was a torch moving in front of the opening of the passage, and I shrank back from the rocks, fearing that the light would reveal me. Then an arm. Finally a whole body. It was a body I had seen before, somewhere far away, in another day and age.

Nabooru. It was without a doubt the Sage of Spirit who had been the last one I had awakened in my quest to save Hyrule. She marched confidently past the rocks, torch in hand. She wore a uniform like those of the Gerudo who had attacked us outside of our cell with Darunia, and I shuddered.

Then following her was a line of Gerudo warriors, of different cuts and stripes, not all in fact of the Gerudo race. I saw Hylians, normal people, and I recalled how large the area the Gerudo had conquered was.

Then I saw another face I recognized, but this time it took more effort. It was Malon. The ranch girl who helped me enter Hyrule Castle, and who gave me Epona to keep. She was dressed in the same Gerudo uniform. She was no prisoner. In her hand, which until then I had never seen raised in anger or even holding a weapon, was a Gerudo-made scimitar. I wondered for a moment how she had come to end up as a Gerudo soldier.

The stream of soldiers slowed to a trickle, and finally disappeared. The footsteps receded into the distance. Then, right as I was about to breathe easier, Nabooru shouted "Halt!" and my blood froze.

She continued quieter, and her words filled me with dread. "There is a mark on the wall."

I heard another voice answering, "So what?"

"It isn't natural."

"So someone's been down this way?"

"Obviously. Someone was moving through these tunnels, chipping the rock to mark the way back."

Then I heard Malon's voice in response, and I shuddered again, because it seemed so disembodied and out-of-place. "So that means...if we follow this back, we'll get to wherever the person started out...which could be the Goron city!"

I nearly had a heart attack. They were going to find the secret Goron redoubt.

I started to leap out to attack them, when Zelda restrained me. I understood, it would have been suicide. Then again, I would have given my life to protect the city, but I shouldn't throw my life away.

"Let's keep moving, then." The footsteps began again, and the company receded back the way we had come.

When the final echoes of the footsteps were faded, I began to breathe easier, but didn't move.

"Who were those people?" Zelda asked.

"Gerudo."

"Obviously. But there were two people you saw who made you kind of shudder. The second one I don't know, but the first was sort of...oh Goddesses!" The light of recognition dawned on her face. "That was Nabooru!" I nodded.

"The other one was Malon. She lives at Lon Lon Ranch."

"Oh, her! Her father delivered milk to the Palace...I only saw her once or twice, though..."

"Hmm...how are we going to awaken Nabooru?"

"That's not important! They're following our trail back! They're going to find the Goron city!"

"I know. We have to stop them."

"There's too many of them."

I stepped cautiously out into the empty cavern. They had left no trail, except for a rope trailing behind them. Every now and then it quivered. It was clearly being trailed behind the Gerudo so they could find their way back.

"There's a lifeline here," I told Zelda.

"Then our job is pretty easy!" Zelda motioned to my Master Sword, and I drew it. "Chop the rope there."

"So they won't be able to find their way back?"

"Yeah."

I was about to do it when something struck me.

"Wait! We can't!"

"Why?"

"Nabooru and Malon are in that group! If we cut this, then they'd get lost."

"Yes..."

"What would happen if Nabooru starved to death?"

"Good point."

"We have to attack them."

"One, you'd die. Two, even if you killed them all Nabooru would still die," Zelda remarked in her typically insightful way.

"But they're going to find the city."

"Well, if they do...there weren't nearly enough people to defeat all the Gorons."

"That's true."

"Do you think that was an army, and Verletz just underestimated?"

"I doubt it. Verletz didn't conquer half the world by underestimating."

"Right..."

"Maybe the rest of the army got lost? Like the Lost Woods?"

"Would Verletz make that mistake twice? Why would he send a huge army into a complicated maze in search of a hidden city? The last time he tried that..."

"You're right. That party must have been a scout party. Reconnaissance."

"A group sent just to explore?"

"Explore...or find the Goron city. That's why they would follow our trail back."

"That has to be it. The group was small enough to stay organized and be quiet, but big enough to take out anyone who spotted them."

"So what are we going to do? We can't kill them."

"If we go back the way we came, we'd run into them as they come back. There's no way for us to keep them from finding the Goron city."

"Then we have to keep them from getting back to report where it is."

"Without killing them? How?"

"I guess we can't. We need to slow them down somehow, to give us enough time to warn the Gorons so they can defend themselves."

"Is there no other option? The Gorons would have to fight the full force of the Gerudo head on."

"Well, if Verletz thinks the Gorons wouldn't know they were coming, then he'd probably not divert many troops to attack. He'd probably go for a sneak attack and wipe them out."

"Right. He'd follow the path of least resistance, he'd kill them in their beds and burn the city to the ground."

"So what can we do?"

"I think we should just try to slow them down. The Gorons can defend themselves well."

"Well, how should we slow them down?"

"We have to cut the rope. If we follow it back a ways, and cut it farther back, they'll still have a way to get out, it'd just take them a long time."

"Why can't we cut it here?"

"They'd follow the chips in the wall back."

"Ah."

"So we have to cut it a little ways back that way. Then they might try going the wrong way and waste some time."

"Okay."

"Wait here."

"No way. Not with them around."

Zelda and I trotted off down the passageway. After about five minutes of this, we stopped, panting, and chopped the rope.

"Now we need to chop it back where our trail stopped. Then there'll be a gap in the rope trail."

We walked back, tired, and chopped the rope there. I coiled the loose rope and wrapped it tight around my arm for safekeeping.

"Well, that's done. We have to now get back to the city to tell the Gorons that the Gerudo know where they are."

"How can we get back? The Gerudo are coming this way, and we'd be going that way..."

"Right. We need to get around them somehow, but without getting lost."

"Lets just wait here where we hid the first time."

"But here is right where the rope ends. What if they come down this path?"

"Yeah. We need to hide where the rope is still there."

"There was a little hole in the wall about a hundred yards down the path, I think it leads to a cave."

"Okay." Zelda yawned. "I shouldn't be sleepy, but..."

"It's all right. Let's go."

We walked quietly to the hole and investigated. There was a small, dry alcove there, that probably could fit Zelda and I comfortably enough. I climbed in the hole and helped Zelda through, then sat against the far wall, ready to collapse. The space was only about five feet square with a three-foot roof, so I couldn't stand, even if I wanted to.

Zelda yawned again and crawled over next to me, shivering. "It's cold..."

"Here." I took off the outer parts of my outfit and wrapped them around her, and she smiled.

"Don't do this. You'll freeze."

"I'm fine. Your body is warm enough." At that she smiled again, and rested her head on my shoulder. Feeling her there made me sleepy as well. "Navi...wake us up as soon as the Gerudo patrol gets here."

"All right," the fairy replied.

I wanted to say something to Zelda, but she was already asleep, and I was well on my way too.

* * *

The Goron city was in chaos. Later we would learn it was highly organized chaos, for a distinct purpose, but at the time it looked to us like pure, unmitigated chaos.

Navi had awoken us shortly after the Gerudo patrol had passed, without incident. We returned without incident, either, but as it turned out the incident had already happened. As we reentered the Goron city, there was what looked like thousands of Gorons, and a few humans and elves, milling about. I had to yell in order to be heard above the din of people's footsteps and shouts.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

A youngish Goron passing by shouted, "SCRAMBLE!"

I looked at Zelda, and we ran after him, shouting, "WHAT?"

"SCRAMBLE, IDIOTS! DID YOU HEAR THE ORDER?" He was out of sight before I could say anything else.

"Scramble?"

"Let's talk to Darunia, or Little Link," Zelda decided. "Whatever's going on seems important, and we don't know what's going on."

"Yeah...unless he's too busy to see us."

"We have to try."

We pushed our way about in the crowd as best we could for a few moments, totally lost as to where to go and even why. Finally, I felt a Goron hand on my shoulder. I couldn't turn around to see who it was, I was practically jerked off my feet.

"YOU TWO! THIS WAY!" It was Darunia. He looked angrier than usual, but I couldn't really tell if his anger was directed towards us or just at something else.

"Darunia? What's going on?" Zelda asked as soon as we were in a quiet hallway.

"Where the hell have you two been?" he answered.

"We've been out. It is none of your business," Zelda snapped, before I could answer.

"You are under MY jurisdiction and your welfare is MY responsibility."

"But what is going on? Why are we 'scrambled'?" I finally got a chance to ask.

"A Gerudo patrol was spotted sneaking around here. Most of them were killed but a few escaped."

For a moment I was filled with dread, both at the prospect of the Gerudo having found the city, and that Nabooru and Malon might have both been killed.

"What did the survivors look like?"

"How should I know? I was out on patrol when it happened. Anyway, Link gave the order to scramble."

"Why?"

"The Gerudo patrol didn't show up by coincidence. Pretty soon now the remnants of the patrol will be reaching their base camp and reporting the location of this city. Then the whole goddamn Gerudo army will be here."

"I guess so."

"Damn right you guess so. But fortunately, they don't know how fast we can be combat-ready, and how many of us there are."

"There are a lot of us, then? And we can be ready fast?" Zelda asked hopefully.

"No and no," said Darunia, "but like I said, they don't know that."

"What is 'scramble'?" I wanted to know.

"Listen, idiots, the Sylvain Liberator fashions aren't all that attractive anyway, and it's very confusing when incompetent civs wear them," Darunia muttered.

"Sorry," Zelda mumbled.

"When we 'scramble', it means we recall all troops on mission and wake everyone else. We abort every other non-essential operation and muster everyone on the commons. They need to be armored, equipped, and ready, and they need to do it as fast as humanly possible."

"Sounds hard."

"You have no idea. Link gave the order and we're about halfway ready. But you two…we need every single living thing that can swing a sword fighting, and I don't know about you two."

"We can do it," Zelda said before I could even respond.

"What? Zelda, you can't be serious! You..."

"I'm dead serious. You just try and stop me."

"We wouldn't let you not fight anyway. That's 'scramble.'"

"I guess..."

I really didn't want Zelda fighting. I don't know how I would live with myself if she was hurt. But secretly, in the back of my mind, I knew that I wanted her to fight as much as she did. I wanted her to do it for a different reason, though. She wanted to prove that she could be helpful, or maybe for some other reason, I'm not really sure. I wanted her to fight because I knew it would be horrible. Atrocious, violent, horrible. I wanted her to see first-hand how horrific war and fighting was so that she would realize how easy it is to lose one's life. Maybe then she'd get some sense.

We presently arrived at Little Link's chamber.

"Are you sure he has time to see us?"

"He's been waiting to see you for hours."

"Why?"

"If you recall correctly, I rescued you from Gerudo protection. You two are very important people in the eyes of the Gerudo. We can't afford to have you unaccounted for. Link is going to personally see to it that you either die in battle or stay where he can see you. Maybe both."

I wasn't sure he was joking.

Little Link was seated at a table regarding a map. "Ah, you. Come in. Sit."

"You look calm," Zelda remarked.

"If I couldn't be calm in this situation, I wouldn't be commanding the army."

"What do you need of us?" I asked politely.

"You and…Zelda? Yes. You and Zelda are our top priorities, besides protecting our city and defeating the Gerudo, of course. You are clearly important. I won't make you go into battle, we can't risk it."

"We're going to fight."

"Hmm?"

"The Gerudo are our enemies. I'd sooner die a hundred deaths by their hands than wait while you fight them." Zelda's rhetoric was firey, but I could see, easily, she was scared. But I didn't doubt she'd go into battle for a second. It reminded me of myself; I never will be able to get over the fear before a battle, but I'd never back out of one either.

"You cannot fight. You are not Stone Fists, nor are you members of any other liberator guild who have been commissioned to help us," Darunia said icily.

"What guild they belong to is of no concern to me," Little Link answered. "What is my concern is that they are more valuable alive than dead."

"I see."

"Do you," Little Link addressed us, "wish to fight?"

"Yes," I said. "But Zelda should..."

"I also will fight." Zelda looked at me, holding a silent conversation with me, and the gist of what she said was "I'm staying here over my dead body." I nodded. This was her choice, and whatever part she was to play in the quest that lay before me, fighting alongside me had to be part of it.

"Very well. Raise your right arms."

"Sir, with all due respect..." Darunia began.

"Lieutenant, are you familiar with the concept of chain of command?"

"Yes, sir," Darunia said not bitterly but guardedly.

"Right then. Raise your right arms and repeat." We did.

"I, being under my own free will and not under coercion, persuasion, or any form of compulsion, magical or otherwise..."

"I, being under my own free will and not under coercion, persuasion, or any form of compulsion, magical or otherwise..." Zelda and I echoed.

"...do hereby enlist in the service of the anti-Gerudo liberation organization Stone Fists..."

"...and swear fealty to those officers as directed hereafter by the authority administering this oath..."

"...and will serve without question or fail for a period lasting as long as is required by my commanding officers..."

"...and will be released by my superiors upon satisfactory completion of those objectives assigned to me."

This seemed a little vague to me, and I wondered how long our period of service could be extended. Indefinitely, probably.

"Congratulations, you are now temporarily commissioned soldiers required in the defense of our headquarters in an emergency. You will be returned to your positions as members of any other cell that you are members of, with no loss of rank or demerit, when your required period of service is expired or you are rendered unable to continue your duties," Little Link droned mechanically. "You are to be placed under the command of Lieutenant Darunia."

"WHAT? Sir, I..." Darunia began, exasperated.

"You will be placed under Lieutenant Darunia until such time as he has the free time to file a formal request for your transferal," Little Link said flatly. "You are now under his jurisdiction. I trust you will use your best judgment regarding decisions affecting our most important soldiers?"

"I am honored that you have chosen me to safeguard them," Darunia said, not bitterly. I think his mood had changed somewhat and he was genuinely proud. I suspected it was just that the emotions of battle were beginning to take hold of him.

"Prepare these two for battle. Assess their abilities and assign them roles based on their skills. Oh, and save a mount for them."

"Yes sir." Darunia's facial expression suggested that he'd sooner give mounts to boulders than us, but he had his orders.

"And above all, don't let them get taken alive. I don't know why the Gerudo want them alive, but whatever the Gerudo want, we have to give them the opposite. Bring them back alive or dead or wounded, but bring them back." He turned to address us. "You must understand that if you are captured, you must make every possible effort to escape, and failing that, you must make sure that whatever you have that they want, they will never get, ever. By any and all means available to you..." Zelda and I nodded.

"Time is of the essence, sir," Darunia broke the silence.

"Indeed it is. Report to the armory and then get your squad to the commons. I'll speak with you there."

"Yes sir."

"Dismissed."

Darunia made the Stone Fist salute gesture and turned to leave with us in tow. We set off down another inscrutable tangle of passageways, our destination known only to Darunia.

"Where are we going to be fighting?"

"You will speak when spoken to, soldiers, and address your commanding officer as 'Sir,'" Darunia said calmly.

"Sorry, sir."

"The Gerudo now know where we are. But they don't know we're about to turn out in force. Our plan is to strike fast, strike hard, and do as much damage as possible, then if things look bad we retreat back here and wait for them."

"How do you know where they are, sir?" Zelda asked.

"We know where they are, because they've been there for months. They've camped there and they're not going anywhere fast."

"So we're going to strike them and do as much damage as we can, sir?"

"Yes. I don't think we can destroy them completely, but we can probably throw them a bit. They'll take quite a while for them to regroup if we hit them hard enough, and they'll think twice about throwing their troops against OUR stone walls!" Darunia rose his voice passionately.

"Yes sir!" I responded enthusiastically.

"Here we are." Darunia opened a door and led us into an armory.

"Do we need anything, sir?" Zelda asked.

"You go into battle like that, and...well, at least we won't have to worry about you getting captured alive..."

"I have never needed armor before, sir," I said politely.

"When did you fight last?"

I was tempted to say that I fought an evil alter-ego of Verletz in a different timeline that would be happening as we spoke.

"Err, not recently."

"War has changed, son. Before Verletz came to power, we did it your way, with light armor and mobility being key. There was a lot of swordplay, and your blade parrying a strike was what saved you, not the fact that a direct hit would give you a ringing in your ears at worst. Now...now if you're not encased in steel, or have skin like a boulder, you'll be crushed, stabbed, or worse."

"How did this change come about, sir?"

"Verletz invented plate armor and introduced it to the world, we believe. Nothing could stop it, except more plate armor. So, sorry to say, we copied it wholesale. Now the only people who aren't in half-plate, at least, are archers or cavalry, who need the mobility of light armor. So if you haven't been in armor before, you'd better learn fast."

"Yes sir."

We had then arrived at the armory, a hot, dim room that smelled of men at war. There was, on the walls, a staggering array of weapons and armor, the likes of which I had never seen. Most were spears, like the one Darunia had wielded. There were swords from the size of daggers to those that looked about as tall as I was. Armors ranged from simple leather straps and hides to suits of chain mail, to scale mail, to breastplate, and up to full plate, that looked similar to the armor of the Iron Knuckles. It was bewildering, and more than a little scary.

"What else will you be equipping us with, sir?"

"Let's get armor settled first. You," he pointed at me, "will probably want field plate. You swing a sword, right?"

"Yes sir. I have one, too."

"So I see. But just a sword isn't gonna cut it. You'll need something to deal with plate armor."

"Sir?"

"Plate armor is designed to resist slashing blows from swords. Your sword would make superficial slashes but not do any real damage. You need to use a light, flexible, piercing weapon, like a rapier, that can pierce armor or at least find gaps in it to puncture. But I take it you're not the type to fence with a steel-encased juggernaut, exchanging witty banter, eh?" I smiled, totally out of respect. I don't really consider myself to be clumsy, and I fence pretty well, considering I did without full plate for my first adventure pretty well. But I didn't really want to make trouble, and besides, Darunia was probably right. Everything else seemed to have changed dramatically in this strange new future, and I wouldn't doubt him if he had said we resolved our differences with ritual checkers.

"So your other option is something heavy and concussive, like a mace, which won't cut anyone, but it can break bones and cause major tissue damage even through armor."

"Yes sir."

"Hmm. I have an idea. Piercing, and bashing...here you are!" Darunia grabbed a large steel rod to which was attached a sphere of metal about the size of a grapefruit. The sphere was covered with sharp metal spikes. A length of leather cord was wrapped around the handle and ended in a loop to attach the weapon to one's belt. He tossed it to me and I grabbed it gingerly.

"What is that, sir?" Zelda asked, a little frightened by the magnitude of the killing devices on hand, but mostly, genuinely curious about it.

"'Scalled a morningstar. Heavy mace head with spikes. The spikes can do some damage if they pierce the armor, and the mace head is heavy enough to put the spikes through a half-inch of steel if you swing it right."

I swung it around. The unbalanced weapon was a little hard to get used to, but it was a lot like a normal sword. Probably easier to use, since all I had to do was to put the heavy, pokey part on whatever I wanted to die.

"You're a natural, boy. Keep that on hand. If you get a chance to use that sword of yours, go for it, but when in doubt, bashing will work best. And keep that shield of yours up."

"Understood, sir."

"Good. Now as for the lady, what does she do?"

"Well..." Zelda began.

"She's the best archer I've ever met," I offered.

"Don't flatter me," Zelda whispered to me.

"Archer, eh? We need plenty of those. As long as you have armor-piercing arrows, you'll provide some cover fire, at least." Darunia trotted off and grabbed a quiver and tossed it to Zelda. "These'll work fine. The tip comes to a sharp point, and if you've got a strong enough arm and a nice heavy bow, you'll puncture armor nicely."

"Yes, sir." Zelda examined the arrows gingerly.

"Let me see the bow you're using," Darunia said. Without waiting for an answer he took the Fairy Bow from her back and looked it over. "Not bad, although it looks like it belongs in a museum."

"It's a family heirloom, sir, but it still works fine," I lied.

"Good. Hmm, composite body, nice heavy pull…yeah, it'll work. Just put some force behind those arrows or they'll shatter when they hit."

"Yes sir," Zelda answered.

"For armor, girl, you'll want chain mail. Not too heavy, and gives you the mobility you need to shoot straight while stopping blows pretty well. Just for emergencies, though, you'll want to avoid melee as best you can."

"All right, sir, let me try some on."

"I'm getting to it, I'm getting to it." Darunia grabbed a suit of small metal rings which were interlocked to form a shirt with a hood. Zelda slipped it on and moved her arms and legs around a bit. "Not bad, sir."

"Good, not that we'd have changed it if it wasn't. If you need some padding you can ask for some, if you don't have any padding it'll move around and chafe. Now you, boy, get over here."

I followed Darunia a few steps. A young Goron handed him a large piece of steel. Where it would go on my body I had no idea. He continued to feed Darunia more and more chunks of steel, until Darunia had acquired a healthy pile of them. Then he handed me a leather outfit and ordered me to put it on.

I did, and it was fairly comfortable, at least without the metal on it. Before I knew it, another Goron had slipped a suit of chain mail over my torso. Then Darunia and a few helpers began attaching the plates to the leather. It was a lengthy process, and I was drenched in sweat after a few minutes. Every part of my body that didn't need mobility (like my elbow joints) had a plate attached to it. First shin guards were attached to my legs, then large steel knee guards attached. Thigh plates were attached to my leather belt, followed by bracers and bicep plates. Shoulder and chest plates, each about the size of a chair, were attached to my shoulders and tied up. Finally, steel greaves and long gauntlets were slipped over my hands and feet and strapped on with leather straps.

"You all right?"

"I'm okay," I lied again.

"Try moving around a bit."

I did, and it was surprisingly easy. Not nearly as clunky and slow as I had imagined, but nonetheless definitely not nimble.

"Draw your sword." I instinctively reached for where I kept my Master Sword, on my back, and didn't find it.

"Your scabbard is at your left hip."

"Sorry, sir." I drew the Master Sword, swung it a few times. The extra weight on my arms actually made my strikes seem heavier, less controlled, but much more deadly and forceful. Different from my usual fighting style, of course, but not necessarily worse. It would definitely work better with a mace, or morningstar or what have you.

"See? It's hard to use a sword accurately. Try the morningstar, it's at your right hip." I unbuckled the strap that held the morningstar to my belt as I put away my Master Sword. Darunia was right, the mace was easier to swing. "Where is my shield, sir?"

"Here." Darunia handed me my Hylian Shield and strapped it to my arm. He had made a few changes to it, mostly more straps and whatnot, and it was attached so tight to my arm I felt I could never get it off again. It seemed like removing it would be as hard, and as unnatural, as removing my whole forearm.

"Looking good. Here's your helm." A Goron placed on my head a large helm. All of polished metal, large, bucket-shaped, and ugly, but that wasn't my concern. Without my permission, a Goron attached a mouth guard, which was basically a curved, v-shaped crosspiece that went across my face from my nose to the base of my neck, with silts for breathing and talking. Then Darunia flipped down my visor, which was similar to the mouth guard but had a larger opening to see out of. "Not bad. You might stand half a chance."

"You look great, Link," Zelda said earnestly.

"I feel less than great, but at least I'll be safe," I opined.

"Right, and we'd rather have you safe and uncomfortable than dead in luxury," Darunia remarked. "Girl…Zelda…what other weapons do you have?"

"Err, none, sir," Zelda answered.

"Just the bow? All right, you need some close range weapons, so if, Goddesses forbid, someone gets into melee with you, you can at least flee safely."

"Sir?"

"Trying to draw an arrow, nock it, and take aim while someone two feet away from you is swinging a fifty-pound blade is less than ideal. Take something light, easy to use, easy to draw if you need to. Are you ambidextrous?"

"I'm not sure, sir."

"Do you know what ambidextrous MEANS, girl?"

"Yes, sir, but I haven't tried to find out."

"Take these." Darunia handed Zelda a pair of matching scabbards with sword handles emerging from them. They looked oddly foreign in design. "Strap 'em on and try out those blades. Put the smaller one in your off hand and the larger one in you primary."

"If I'm ambidextrous, sir, I wouldn't have a primary or off-hand, would I, sir?"

"I guess you're right, actually. Then just take the swords and find which one feels right in which hand."

"All right, sir." Zelda had already attached the scabbards to her belt and drew the two curved short swords. They were very keen and glimmered in the light. They were about two-and-a-half feet long, although one was about four inches shorter than the other.

"Beautiful," I said from within my metal bucket hat.

"They are. Get a feel for them and wait here, I'll be back in a moment. HEY! PRIVATE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH THAT?" Darunia stormed off in the direction of a soldier fooling around with a large halberd. As an afterthought he yelled at me, "Open that visor and pull down your mouth guard, son, at least for now. You sound like you're talking from the bottom of a well."

"Hmm, I think I just might be ambidextrous," Zelda said to me, tossing the swords from hand to hand.

"I hope you are," I said to her as she rolled her wrists and swung the blades about, almost rhythmically, "or you'll be minus one hand in a minute."

"Are you all right in that hunk of metal?"

"I'm fine. It's nice and cool here on top of a mountain, at least. Can you shoot all right with that armor on and those swords at your side?"

"Sure," Zelda answered, replacing the swords in their sheaths and taking the Fairy Bow from her back. She drew back the string and took aim with an imaginary arrow. "No trouble at all."

"Great. Do what you do best. Shoot some Gerudo." I smiled, and she smiled back.

"Time to earn my stripes."

"You don't need any, to be honest. I've been killing for a living so long, I've got enough stripes to turn a horse into a zebra, and where has it gotten me?"

"An underground city?"

"More great chances to kill some more."

Behind our casual talk, I think we were worried sick. No, scratch that, I know we were. I had been in fights before, of course, but not on a mass scale. And Zelda...before a few days ago, she'd never have shot at anything not painted with a bullseye. I didn't want to get her scarred for life, physically or mentally. But it had to be done. Besides, to back out now would be to desert the Goron army in its time of need. A court-martial would be the least they would do.

But she was willing, and I had learned by now that nothing could dissuade her besides letting her do whatever it was and hoping it turned out to be so wretched she'd never do it again. I was hoping that fighting would be one of those times. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I sound like a hypocrite. But if I could solve all the world's problems without raising a sword, I would. But I can't. Fighting and killing each other seems to be so engrained in our brains that we're compelled to do it whether we like it or not. For better or for worse, we were going to go into combat. Ideally it would be short and uneventful.

It turned out to be neither.


	10. Chapter 10

A few minutes later we were standing alongside Darunia, in front of a squad of Goron soldiers, all in perfect formation. Alongside them were more squads, all perfect, ordered, as a totally unified body. It reminded me of a living thing. It was as if I wasn't looking at an army and its various sections, but at an animal with arms and legs, all in the right place. As if you'd no sooner need to tell the troops to tighten ranks and march in step than you would need to tell your arms to get organized and command your legs to work in unison.

Presently Little Link approached Darunia and us. "Greetings."

"Greetings, sir. We're all prepared."

"Good. That's everyone, I think."

"How are they?" He gestured at us.

"They stand half a chance," Darunia said. "I got them suited up and armed and they look pretty good."

"Thank you, sir," Zelda said respectfully.

"Just remember I gave you the praise BEFORE the battle," Darunia answered. "Check with me AFTER the battle, if you're still alive, and we'll see."

"They'll live. You see to it."

"Yes sir."

"Okay, then. Mount up."

"Yes sir."

"And get an extra 'Dongo for them."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"An extra 'Dongo. For them. Link and Zelda."

"Dodongos are for officers of rank, sir."

"Officers of rank can issue commands to their inferiors too, if I'm not mistaken," Little Link answered dryly. "They are to be mounted and they are to ride point with you.",

Darunia scowled but held his tongue.

"Listen, Lieutenant, these two should be locked up under maximum security twenty-four hours a day," Little Link explained, "but our resources are short. We need everyone with two arms, two legs, and eyesight out there fighting. If it were up to me they'd be out of this city by now, but the situation is different from what I had envisioned it would be right now."

"Yes sir. They'll ride."

"Good. Go get mounts."

"Yes sir." Little Link turned and went to address some other troops. "You two wait here."

I really didn't want to ride a Dodongo. For one thing, the only Dodongos I knew of were ones that tried to kill me every chance they got, and exploded upon death, and breathed fire. Oh, and occasionally grew to be hundreds of feet tall. On second thought, Dodongos would be great mounts. I wondered how they could be domesticated, though, and how hard it was to ride one.

My questions were answered when Darunia came back with two adult Dodongos, each a good twelve feet long from tip to tail, scaly and reptilian. They were fairly tame-looking and obedient, no more aggressive or unruly than most horses.

"You ever rode a Dodongo before?"

"I've killed a couple in my day," I answered without thinking. Darunia looked at me as though I had said I had killed a couple of thoroughbred warhorses for no reason.

"Why, were they attacking you?"

"Well, yes."

"Didn't think a trainer could screw up THAT badly," Darunia said.

I don't know why I kept the conversation going. I should have shut up there. "They weren't trained," I said. "They were wild."

"Wild Dodongos? Really? Where were you?"

"Dodongo Cavern," I answered reflexively, immediately regretting it.

"Boy, there haven't been wild Dodongos in Dodongo Cavern for at least seven years now," he answered, attaching a saddle to the scaly beasts.

"Well, it was before then. When there were."

"You don't look a day older than twenty, probably less," Darunia guessed, "so you're telling me you killed 'a couple' of wild Dodongos, in Dodongo Cavern, when you were thirteen?"

"Yeah." I didn't know what else to say.

"You never were a good liar," Darunia said. "Hop on."

I was just glad the conversation was over. I noticed the Dodongo that was for us had a pair of saddles, or rather one double-saddle, on it. I clambered onto the giant lizard, Zelda getting on behind me. It is, let me state for the record, exceedingly difficult to get onto a Dodongo in full plate. When I had finally gotten on and balanced I was afraid I would slip off, despite the stirrups.

Zelda put her hands on my back. "All right?"

"Yes! Don't jostle me!"

"You're fine. You've fought on horseback from Epona before, you'll be able to do it now!"

"One, this thing is definitely not Epona. Two, I'm wearing enough metal to sink a rowboat right now. And three..." I stopped.

You know what I was about to say? I was about to say I was scared shitless. Because I was. Honestly. Link, the Hero of Time, was scared out of his mind.

I'd be the first to tell you that I was scared then and was scared many times in the past and will definitely be scared in the future when battle is imminent. No matter how many times I will go into combat, I will never stop being afraid beforehand. I get shakes and undermine myself, and it's lousy, but I can't help it.

Oh, when I'm actually IN combat I'm not afraid at all. I'm not happy, either; I just don't really feel anything. I would finish a fight and notice I was bleeding in several important places, routinely. That's how I get myself through it. Fight, keep fighting, that's what you're there for. Don't think, don't be afraid or over-confident or remorseful or happy or anything. If a friend's head exploded mid-battle, I would keep fighting and let myself be overcome with grief and terror and nausea after. You can't afford to let the emotions you feel in combat take effect right then and there, you have to store them until it's safe to feel them. I don't think I'm alone on this, given the nature of battle. If we were to stop and think and feel in battle we'd all throw down our weapons half a minute in and pray for peace or death.

"Three?"

"Never mind."

"What? Don't you think you can do this? You've been in battle before. Think about me, here on this giant lizard wearing a heavy chain shirt, with a bow and arrows and these swords I've never used before in my life. I've never been taught how to swordfight beyond watching you. And I'm not worried."

She was obviously lying to make me feel better. I could tell it, she was scared too, and I couldn't blame her. She was supposed to be feeling scared now. Scared like I felt the first time I picked up a sword and had to fight. I had to fight a giant spider creature in a tree with a tiny sword, and I was ten years old. _That's_ when I had an excuse to be scared.

But now?

I knew I couldn't help but be scared, and I didn't really begrudge myself that weakness. Fear, rational and appropriate fear, may be our strongest asset as a species. It's what helps us identify danger and deal with it appropriately. It's how we survived so long. Knowing what is dangerous and what to do about it is our most basic skill. So basic, fear is instinctual, and somehow our minds know exactly what we should be afraid of and how much.

But I didn't need to be scared now. I knew where the danger was and what it was, and what to do about it. I didn't need to be shaking and loosing the edge of my skill. It could cost me my life if I was too shaken to fight effectively.

"Three, Zelda, I'm scared. You're scared too."

"Of course I am. I'd be worried if I wasn't, or you weren't."

"I shouldn't be afraid now. I need to be unafraid, for you."

"For me? Like I need you to be a beacon of courage for me?" she asked in a mocking tone.

"You said you weren't worried," I changed the subject.

"I'm not worried. I'm just afraid. There's a difference. I'm afraid, I fear for my life, because my life will soon be put on the line. But I'm not worried. I know I'll go out there doing my best and doing all that I can, and whatever happens, happens. You should never worry about anything, just be afraid of things. Worrying is for people who are too afraid to be afraid."

"Worrying is for people who are too afraid to be afraid," I repeated to myself. "Thanks."

"Honestly. You're a grown man. A grown man who saved the world from unimaginable evil even when there was no one else beside him."

"You were beside me," I reminded her. "And all the Sages."

"We helped you fight," she said, "but the courage was all yours. We showed you the door, you didn't just walk through it, you charged headlong with your shoulder down and your sword drawn."

"So that's what went wrong," I joked.

"Seriously! You were the hero. Us Sages were just the cheerleaders."

The very thought of the Sages as cheerleaders made me smile, mostly because I took it literally and imagined Rauru shouting encouraging slogans at me.

"This time, though, you're the hero too," I assured her.

"We'll decide that when the adventure is over," she responded.

Little Link rode up on another Dodongo, this one uniquely colored and painted with a few sigils and emblems to denote his rank. I'm not sure I'd ever seen a Dodongo of that color before.

"Good," Little Link remarked. "We are ready, and only a little bit late."

"That's the best we can hope for, I guess." Darunia took up a long spear and strapped it to his back, before grabbing a large lance of sharp stone to wield in his hands.

Little Link rode up alongside him. "Your squad is at attention? Ready to move out?"

"As ready as they'll ever be, sir. What's our numbers?"

"Three thousand, five-hundred fifty-six Goron regulars, plus about three hundred reservists. Then a hundred and fifty Liberator elves, bowmen mostly and some swordsmen. A cluster of about twenty spellcasters, with a couple assigned to the larger squads."

"That's around 4000, then?" Darunia asked.

"Yes," Little Link answered. "That's the most we've ever had mustered at one time, too."

"Then, this is the most urgent situation we've faced before, too."

"Impressive."

"Yes."

"And how many Gerudo should there be fighting us?" I asked.

"I'd say right now they'll probably be getting the message from the search party's survivors. Fully mobilizing will take a while, though, because most of the time the bulk of their troops assigned to the Death Mountain region are on missions or such. So at camp right now there's probably about 60,000, just waking up and eating breakfast. When the group arrives with the news, it'll probably take them about an hour for them to reach Verletz or whoever's in charge, and then maybe another hour to get the message to all the troops there. Then an hour or two for them to get battle-ready, and to get the message out to all the soldiers on missions and unaccounted for. While the troops are getting ready the top strategists will be trying to decide what to do. Since they would know we had spotted their search party, their plans would have to change. That's the window we're shooting for. If we get them while they're still strapping on their armor and their leaders haven't figured out a counter-strategy, we can do some major damage with minimal risk. After we hit, we execute the second half of our strategy, the 'run' part. Because once the troops out of the camp on missions get recalled, they'll keep reinforcing the survivors and we'll have no chance. If we wait that long they'll surround us and slaughter us. We want to do our damage and then get back to base where it's relatively safe and wait for them to come to us. Of course, if they don't come, we'll just keep hitting them and keeping them from building up masses of troops, but I'm guessing even if we do a good chunk of damage to the troops standing ready, they'll rush in some reinforcements and go for an all-out attack rather than wait. And that all-out attack will be easier to fend off if we've thrown them for a while."

To be honest, I hardly heard what he'd said after "60,000."

"60,000? Sixty-thousand Gerudo soldiers?"

"Yeah. They're not prepared, of course. And they're not expecting us. Most of them will probably be still in their tents. Not that it'll just be pillage and slaughter, we'll have to deal with at least their sentries fighting back, and by the time we reach the heart of the camp there will be some bright young soldiers who are battle-ready."

"But sixty thousand of them? With more coming to reinforce?"

"Yeah, there're a lot of them. That's why we have to strike now so there'll be less of them when the come knocking on our door."

Zelda was just as flabbergasted as I was. "There are 4000 of us attacking 60,000 of them? And then we'll have to get back and defend with the same troops?"

"We are outnumbered, sirs, if I may give my opinion and if my math is correct, by fifteen to one."

Little Link looked at me as though I had just told him I was concerned that we were outnumbered fifteen to one when fighting a herd of sixty thousand chickens. "I can live with those odds. Prepare to move out."

"Yes sir," Darunia replied. "Our squad is taking point, so we're going first. Just follow my 'Dongo, stay close, and don't bite it."

"All right," I said. Somehow, learning how many Gerudo there were and how few of us there were actually calmed my nerves. And it wasn't because now I was sure I was going to die and I didn't have to fret about what was going to happen, although that thought crossed my mind.

I was actually inspired by how fearless Little Link was leading this attack, and how fearlessly and unquestioningly Darunia carried out his orders. I told myself that if the two top-ranking Goron commanders of this army weren't concerned about the odds, we shouldn't be questioning their judgment. Zelda and I were asleep for the past seven years and didn't even know about the domestication of Dodongos, much less how warfare had evolved. From what I'd seen so far, it looked totally different from what I was used to. I don't know. Maybe Darunia and Little Link knew something we didn't. Maybe they were just crazy.

Anyone who picks up a sword and fights is crazy, at least a little. I know I am. No one in their right mind would do what I do for a living. That's why I worried for Zelda: not only that I didn't want her to get hurt, but because I didn't want her to start liking it, either. She didn't deserve it. That's not the kind of life I wanted for her. I realize it's not for me to decide, but still, I wanted to give her a choice. If she wants to fight, she can, but she shouldn't have to. That's all.

"AWRIGHT! MARCH!"

* * *

"We're lost," Malon muttered again. 

"We are. And you aren't helping," Nabooru answered from somewhere ahead of her.

"I am. I'm just keeping the urgency of the situation in mind," Malon replied. "I don't know about you, but this is the first time I've had most of my unit wiped out wholesale."

"Listen, I don't like it any better than you do, girl. Those soldiers were damn fine and it's a shame that they're gone, but there's nothing you or I can do about it now. That's the first rule of warfare, when things go badly, you can't afford to let it get to you."

"Yes, sir."

"Save your sorrow for when the situation, as you might say, is less urgent."

"All right."

The two survivors marched on through the dark tunnel, eyes straining for any kind of sign as to where they were.

"You sure we came this way?"

"Yeah. Whoever cut our rope couldn't have screwed it up too much."

"What makes you say that?"

"If whoever did this was really thorough, he'd have taken the end of the rope down another passage and tied it to a rock or something. But here, the rope just ends where we were. I think that someone must have cut a section of the rope to slow us down. So that means the real rope is up ahead."

"I guess."

But what they found was most certainly not the rope.

"Whoa..." Malon seemed as though she were about to faint, but Nabooru kept her nerve.

It was a massive chamber, open to the sky, bubbling with heat. Across from the tunnel they had left was what looked like an ancient temple, carved with designs as alien to them as to anyone who saw them.

It was a temple. The Fire Temple.

"What IS that?" Malon breathed.

"I don't know...but it beats boiling to death," Nabooru said slowly. "We won't last long in this heat."

"Yes..." Malon took a few tentative steps toward the temple, grimacing at the intense heat that burned her lungs.

"Let's get in there and think of a plan. I think I know where we are..."

"You do?"

"This is the Death Mountain crater, the center of the volcano. I don't know what that temple thing is, but I think it might have a backdoor or something leading to the mountainside, and from there..."

"All right. It's worth a shot."

The two steeled themselves and dashed full-speed across the scorching rock, bubbling magma surrounding them, and practically dove into the cool darkness of the Fire Temple.

* * *

"Look for gaps in their armor and put the arrow there. Even with armor-piercing arrows, you'll need to get a pretty damn near perfect shot if you want to puncture the plate and do real damage. So aim for the weak points. Obviously this isn't a problem when you're shooting at a lightly armored target, but those are pretty rare, at least in the Gerudo forces here." 

Zelda had engaged another archer in conversation, a Sylvain Liberator like we were (presumably), a veteran who had done this before.

"Obviously, the neck is a good place to try for. They have to be lightly armored there, or they couldn't move their own heads to look around."

"Right," she answered, as if she were taking notes in her head.

"And look for the joints. The elbow, the wrist, the shoulder, the waist, the hip, the knee, the ankle, all have to be flexible to allow for full range of movement. That mobility means if your aim's good enough you can hit them there. While the arrow's in the joint, they lose the use of it, which means if you hit the shoulder or elbow joint they can't strike back, and you can hamstring them pretty well in the knee or ankle. And if they pull it out, they'll damage the tendons of the joint so badly they still won't really be able to use it for a while, plus they'll cause substantial blood loss," the man finished.

"Okay, I'll try."

"Good."

I took another look at the archer that Zelda had engaged and recognized his face. I think he was the poor beggar who had wanted to buy my bugs, first in Hyrule Market Town and then in Kakariko. Funny how the world works. I guess being a soldier beats sitting in the gutter buying bugs.

"That's all well and good," Darunia said without turning around, "but most of the time you can't get a clear shot. If you can shoot straight, just go for a vital spot and ignore the armor, your arrow will go through. You have to send the arrow straight, though. If you come in from the side it'll shatter or just bounce off the armor, or just go in a little. Just line up a shot, pull the string back as far as you can, and unload. Composite bows like yours are designed with heavy pulls so strong people can get a good bead on their target. Using a bow like that is as much about brute strength as it is good aim."

The huge army was winding its way down the endless passages, going I knew not where. Zelda and I kept our Dodongo close to Darunia's, following him into the gloom. We seemed to be going steadily upward.

"Any advice for me, sir?" I asked Darunia hopefully.

"What advice can I give you? It's not anything you've not done before, if I don't miss my bet," Darunia remarked enigmatically.

"I've never fought in heavy armor like this before, sir. Nor have I fought while mounted."

"You've fought with a sword?"

"Yes, sir. Is it similar?"

"Pretty much. Just take that mace of yours and hit with it like it was a sword. Hit as hard as you can, don't worry about accuracy."

"All right."

Then, the dawn broke like a bomb.

I realized at that moment, as a light cleansed like fire on my eyes, how long I'd been underground without seeing the light of the sun. Days now. I gave a sort of hiss and shielded my eyes. Some Goron near me mumbled something about useless humans.

"Where are we?" I asked, bewildered.

"See for yourself," Darunia said.

"That's harder than it sounds right now."

"Give it a moment."

I did, and my vision cleared. Squinting into the distance I saw a huge rocky slope heading downward at a gentle grade, mostly dirt with the occasional rock group or chasm gouged by flowing rain. From behind me, Goron troops poured out of a gaping hole in the side of the mountain. But my attention was fixed on what was below.

There was a seeming ocean of white, what must have been thousands of white tents spreading out on a large plateau below us. Tendrils of smoke rose from myriad campfires, and even from as far away as we were I could hear the sounds of many people. There were shouts and the clanging of metal on metal, and the sounds of horses. Surrounding the encampment was a large earthwork, made from the red clay soil of the very mountain itself. Embedded in the mighty walls were wood doors and sharpened wood spikes, and I could barely make out tiny human figures marching atop it.

"The Gerudo camp. They don't look very prepared," Darunia said in answer to my unasked question. "I wonder if the search party survivors have even returned yet."

"Zelda! You seeing this?" I asked incredulously.

"I'm amazed I'm seeing anything, but yeah! I am!" The sound of her voice was reassuring.

"Now listen, you two. It'll be safer if you stay together. Don't get separated and don't die. And above all don't get caught, okay?" Darunia said gruffly.

"Okay, sir."

"Good."

"How are we coming along?" Little Link asked Darunia.

"Almost out, it seems."

I turned and looked, and indeed, it seemed that I was now among a sea of flesh and swords and armor. The Gorons had moved with remarkable speed.

"Do you think they have seen us?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well, not too much, I suppose."

"All right. Give the order, sir," said Darunia respectfully as he turned to face the Gerudo camp.

"ALL UNITS, FULL KIT AND PREP!" bellowed Little Link. His order was echoed by other voices along the lines. The Gorons closed ranks and withdrew their spears, while the divisions of Hylian archers readied their bows and swordsmen brandished their blades.

"ARCHERS LAY DOWN SUPPRESSING FIRE AT POINT-FIVE-D!" Little Link shouted again. I was a little confused by the truncated jargon.

"MELEE UNITS ENGAGE AND DESTROY ALL IN TRANSIT! AT THE WALLS, CAPTURE STRONG POINTS AND ENGAGE ALL, AWAIT SIEGE TECH!" The hundreds of soldiers all aligned towards their goal and readied themselves, braced as though beginning a race.

"ON MY COMMAND!" Little Link turned to Zelda and I. "Just ride to the walls and start killing, got it?"

"I picked that up, sir," I said with false bravado.

"Good. After today, you can call yourself a veteran."

"I'm honored, sir."

"Get ready, soldier."

I turned to Zelda. "He said something about archers laying down fire at some point."

"He did," Zelda answered. "If I see arrows flying, I guess I'll just follow suit."

"Okay." I gave Zelda a warm smile. "Don't worry."

"No, no! Worry as much as you can! You'll live longer."

I nodded to her and pulled down my visor. I drew the mace I had been given and raised the Hylian Shield. The visor didn't obscure my vision as much as I had thought it would, and the armor seemed much lighter now. I guess its just adrenaline.

"BY SQUADS! ADVANCE!" Little Link's voice carried across the battlefield like a herald's trumpet, and the world swirled into chaos.

* * *

"This is the strangest day of my life," Malon said in awe. Wonder after wonder was heaped upon her as she and her superior wandered through the ancient temple. An archeologist would jump for joy to see the ancient ruins. 

"You're telling me. Where now?"

"Let's try there," Malon suggested, pointing to an ancient door.

Nabooru gave it a sharp tug, and it swung open with a tremendous grating sound.

Both women gave a muffled gasp. In the room before them was another door; huge, massive, bigger than any they had ever seen before. On it was carved in bas-relief strange and mystical designs, seeming to correspond with the artwork of the rest of the temple. The heat in this room was savage, but neither woman could resist entering.

"Where...what..." Malon mouthed.

"We've got to open that," Nabooru said, abandoning reason in the face of pure astonishment. The Gerudo approached the massive edifice and grasped one of the huge iron rungs. A sizzling filled the air, as the hot metal burned deep into her hands. She swore loudly but pulled with all her might. She felt compelled to open the massive door, almost hypnotized by its vast bulk and latent, sinister mystery.

The door swung open, and a breath from a blast furnace engulfed both women. Their hair sizzled and they averted their faces, but even against the suffocating heat that threatened to sear the skin from their bones, they could not help but frantically advance into the ancient chamber beyond, driven by some primal urge.

There was a sound of a thousand thunderclaps and the grating of steel on stone.

There was a gout of fire and a blast of smoke.

The women turned and ran breathlessly from the opened door, screaming in terror.

A monster had been set free.

Little Link and Darunia charged down the slope on their Dodongos, and Zelda and I weren't far behind. The Dodongos had clearly been trained well, and I hardly needed to do anything to keep the beast steady and on course.

I don't recall saying or doing anything for about a half-minute as we bounced along. I felt Zelda behind me, and saw ahead the Gerudo camp beginning to stir with alarm. Presently I heard trumpets, and mass shouts, and I saw swarms of movement.

When we had covered about half the distance to the walls of their camp, the sun grew dimmer in an instant. I looked overhead and saw the sky blackened by arrows as a deafening chorus of twanging bowstrings thundered behind me. Now I understood what laying down a suppressing fire at point-five-D meant: let fly when we're half way there.

I turned to Zelda. "SHOOT!" I yelled.

"AT WHAT?" she shouted back.

"ANYTHING THAT WAY!" I screamed helplessly.

She leaned over on the galloping Dodongo and started firing. I didn't pause to watch.

The first of the hail of arrows was beginning to hit the earthen walls. Along the parapets I saw Gerudo sentries fall, and I saw dozens of tiny arrows embed themselves in the dirt walls. As the Gerudo tried to get their own archers on the wall to return fire, they were cut down.

We were now inside a hundred yards of the wall, and I heard what might have been bells, or gongs. The great wood doors opened, and disgorged a swarm of Gerudo. The troops broke into a run, coming straight at us.

Before that moment I had never been in such a mass battle, and I admit that it was strangely beautiful, epic, titillating. The vast wall of onrushing Gorons was now about to collide with a charging wave of Gerudo, on such a scale I could scarcely imagine.

And then it happened; the first of the Gorons reached the Gerudo. The Gorons didn't even break stride, those who reached the Gerudo line first simply plowed into the defenders. Swords shone and clanked against Goron hides, but most of the attackers were relatively unharmed. The Gerudo were trampled into paste by the mighty stone Gorons, who only lost a small bit of momentum. They charged on into the liquid mass of Gerudo, flailing and smashing. Their fists could send a Gerudo flying backward onto her back. Finally they ran out of steam and plowed into a wall of Gerudo, smashing, stabbing, and trampling. Soon the entire Goron line had melded into the Gerudo, and the two liquid masses merged into one. The sounds of battle filled the air. More arrows darkened the sun from behind us as the archers shot another volley, and this time a response began to fall around us. Gerudo arrows came from the opposite direction, but they practically bounced off the Gorons. I was beginning to understand why the odds of fifteen to one were not so bad, a singe Goron seemed to be as powerful as fifteen Gerudo.

I also began to understand why the Dodongos were reserved for officers; the power of the beasts deserved to be in high-ranking hands.

As Zelda and I entered the mass combat, the beast slowed, trampling Gerudo and screeching. Zelda adjusted her fire to attack nearby Gerudo. I saw with my peripheral vision a few Gerudo go down around us from her shots, and I mentally congratulated her. I swung my mace as best I could, but the Gerudo were wisely staying away from us.

The Dodongo slowed to a stop, swiping with its massive claws, then stopped altogether and reared up, nearly throwing me. It opened its mouth wide and landed thunderously, breathing forth a blast of fire. The advancing Gerudo before us were burnt to cinders before our eyes. Around me I saw other bright spots, these, I figured, had to be the officers on their Dodongos.

I wheeled the Dodongo around and headed towards another group of Gerudo. The creature breathed again, scorching them, and flailed its limbs. Several Gerudo reached the rampaging beast, stabbing and bashing with their shields. The creature suffered several knife wounds and howled, breathing a third time and decimating the attackers.

Several Gerudo swung at me. Unable to dodge, I simply braced for impact. Their blows clanged on my armor, but I was unharmed. I returned the favor with a sweeping blow to one of them, crushing her skull and dropping her. The mace was soaked with blood.

Zelda pulled her bowstring to the limit of her strength and shot squarely into Gerudo chests and necks, more often than not dropping her target where it stood. The Dodongo had begun to move in a circular pattern, sweeping its tail, tripping and bludgeoning Gerudo, and clawing and biting. One unlucky Gerudo ended up with her torso in the thing's mouth; the Dodongo gave a screech and breathed. She was burned in half, the two quivering, scorched chunks falling to the ground in a shower of the cinders that once constituted her abdominal cavity. There was no blood; the fire had cauterized the wounds shut instantly.

Suddenly the Dodongo froze up, and I could see why-embedded in its forehead was a Gerudo arrow. It screeched a horrific death-cry and slumped heavily to the ground, throwing Zelda and I off of it roughly.

I hit the ground dazed momentarily, but suddenly I realized something.

"RUN!" I grabbed Zelda by the arm and scrambled to my feet, taking a few headlong strides before collapsing to the ground and hitting the deck, covering my head with my hands.

"WHAT?" Zelda crawled next to my face, but whatever she was about to say was lost.

There was a blast of heat and a deafening explosion. Then there were screams and moans, a nauseating sizzling, and a stench of roasting flesh. Zelda's words died on her lips as she scrunched her face in pain.

* * *

Malon and Nabooru ran in a dream, pointedly ignoring the horror they had seen and, more importantly, that they had released that horror. 

They ran desperately out of the temple, through the scorching volcano pit, and into the darkness of the cavern, running without knowing were they were going and why they were going there.

Suddenly, they saw a light, and heard a familiar noise.

"What...?" Malon was the first to burst into the daylight at the end of the passage and see the spectacle below.

"Oh, Din..." Nabooru caught up with her and gasped.

The Gerudo fortress was under attack.

"Let's go!" Malon drew a Gerudo bow from her back and Nabooru whipped out her scimitar as she broke into a run.

* * *

"Are you all right?" I asked Zelda as we scrambled to our feet. 

"I'm okay." She seemed shaken, but all right.

"Dodongos, useful in life, but great in death." Darunia had appeared behind us, without his Dodongo. "It's all right, at this point you're better off on foot. I let my Dodongo fight by itself-they're plenty smart enough to do some damage. Just get fighting. Try to advance towards the gates if you can, but don't do anything stupid. If you're outmatched, fall back! You got me?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Get going!" He spun his spear around and charged into the fray. I was close behind, and Zelda still closer, drawing an arrow and letting fly.

There's really no need to talk a lot about what the battle was like, for the most part. I don't know how long it lasted. They said about two hours, but it was hard to tell. Sometimes I felt like seconds dragged on for days, but sometimes I felt that time was flying by out of control.

One moment was particularly gruesome. A Gerudo laid a chop squarely down the right side of my face, smashing in my helm and making a clear, deep line of red down my whole face, from my forehead to my right cheek. I tore off my ruined visor and held a hand to my face to staunch the bleeding, and in a moment or two I felt ready to continue fighting. Zelda muttered a word or two in concern, but she kept her nerve remarkably well. I hadn't expected such.

At some point, an excited Goron ran to where Zelda had just finished taking down a few straggling Gerudo. "We've secured the gates! We've secured the gates! Come, quick, they're bashing them down right now! We'll kill every damn thing that moves in there!" The elated Goron dashed off towards a wood gate that swarmed with Gerudo and Gorons alike. It didn't seem to me that the gate was very secure at all.

Then I saw through the swarms of battling Gerudo and Gorons a group of Dodongos pounding on the wood door and screeching. They breathed fire on the door intermittently, and it slowly caught fire as their relentless blows continued. They were living battering rams, much more effective than a non-living one.

As the door began to crack, I jogged towards the fray, eager to enter the Gerudo camp and, well, crack some skulls. Zelda was right behind, firing when she got a chance. Without the visor of my helm to impede my vision, I saw the door collapse as a great cheer went up from the Gorons. I felt great.

It was at that point that a Gerudo arrow entered my left eye at an angle a little less than parallel to my nose, sliced through the fluid-filled cavity of the eye, struck the left zygomatic bone, and broke it, piercing through the left side of my helm in a shower of blood and bone fragments as I fell reeling to the ground.

I felt as though I had gone blind in both eyes, because I saw only darkness. Then by degrees I saw out of my right eye. I was on the ground, a growing pool of blood forming around my head, trickling from my ruined eye socket. I feebly put a gauntleted hand to my eye socket and saw it was soon covered with blood. My vision swam and I sank fast into darkness.

The last thing I heard was "OH MY GOD, LINK!"

* * *

"OH MY GOD, LINK!" 

Zelda stopped dead in her tracks. Link was charging confidently ahead, and suddenly he was jerked violently backward, and to the left. She saw with horrible clarity the arrow burst out of the left side of his head, spraying blood on the ground. He fell, as slow as a sinking ship, to the ground and did not move.

She numbly, coldly, ran to his side and turned his head to the sky. She nearly screamed at the horrible wound as she wrestled his ruined helm from his shoulders.

Clean, blond bangs fell across his comatose face, and he seemed almost peaceful. But soon his hair was stained red with blood. She brushed it aside, her bare hands moving over his face. She wiped as much of the blood away from the wound as she could with her shirtsleeves.

The damage was extensive. Link's whole eye seemed to be missing. She saw at the back of the eye-shaped hole the bone of his skull. Worse was that his eye wasn't just gouged out, but that the bone at the side of his head was gone. She saw jagged broken bone ends, and a gap where the thin bone on the side of one's eye should be. Clearly it had been fractured off, leaving Link with a gap in his skull. Thankfully, the arrow hadn't removed his ear. To make matters worse, the large gash down his right side had re-opened and was adding to the gory mess in Zelda's lap.

Zelda was in tears, helpless and desperate. She choked, she wanted to call for help, but what good would that do? Link was as good as dead. A cry for help would probably bring Gerudo to kill her and finish him off.

Instead of fear or sadness, she was filled with rage. She looked through misty eyes upward, brushed her tears away roughly, and looked for a target, any target.

She saw on the earth wall a young soldier with a bow. She was a short, thin girl, with red hair, but definitely not a Gerudo. She was lightly armored and looked unprepared for battle. She was pumping her fist in triumph and raising her bow above her head.

It was clear that she had fired the shot. There were no other archers around, and no other arrows had been in the air when Link fell.

For a moment, Zelda halted. She felt that the soldier she was now drawing a bead on was familiar, somehow...someone more special than the other faceless, nameless soldiers she had killed. But, at the same time, not so special as to warrant a second thought. She was probably just imagining something; of course, her nerves were shot.

Her face hot, Zelda raised the Fairy Bow that Link had given to her and muttered an oath as she nocked an arrow. With a shout of "DIE!" she let it fly. But when it counted most, she saw that she had missed.

Not really missed, actually, because the arrow had lodged securely in the young woman's chest, straight through the light armor she wore, and the girl went pale and dropped. But it didn't kill the wench, Zelda saw with regret. Her target wouldn't be going anywhere for a while, at least. Her anger subsided, the need to save Link's life resurfaced. She looked around for someone, anyone, who could help her.

"Good goddesses, woman! What happened?" It was Darunia. He had been on his way to the fortress, and had obviously seen the bloody disaster.

"An arrow, sir, he's lost an eye." The words that came from her mouth sounded foreign, and she couldn't accept that she was talking about Link.

"Well do something about it!"

"What?"

"Just dress the wound and...oh, forget it. I'll take him, and you too."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Suits me. Go smash and run," he said. He gave a whistle. "MEDIC!"

Zelda grinned harshly and followed the throng moving into the Gerudo city, revenge on her mind.


	11. Chapter 11

I don't need to go into the next week or so of my life in great detail, suffice to say that it was rather painful, emotionally and physically, for me. There was the problem of perception---losing one's depth perception is a major hindrance to combat ability, not to mention everyday life. But, as Little Link explained it in his simple yet effective manner, after a little while training, my other senses would compensate for it. My ears would be better able to hear someone, and I would be better able to tell based on the sensation of proximity where someone is, by movements of air and heat. Or something like that. I do know that I am now, and have been for a while, functioning just fine, so I guess he was right. At the time, though, I felt totally shattered. There was a suffocating sense of permanency about the whole thing. Cuts heal, bones set, scorched hair grows back, bleeding is staunched. But not this time. This time there was no fairy in an alternate reality to save me, no harmless scars that I could wear as badges of honor, not like the long, crescent-shaped one I now had along the right side of my face. I had failed, and I paid the price---at least, that is how I felt at the time. I suppose I was what you would call depressed, but I can't blame myself.

The Gorons' medicinal skills are remarkable, and mostly unnoticed, given their solitary existence. I doubt any chirurgeon in Hyrule could have done a better job. And they helped me further than just the physical problem; I had to re-learn how to do a great many things. I don't know how you'd be treated if you walked into a Goron city with a broken bone asking for assistance, but I know this: they leave none of their own behind.

About a week after the battle, I was finishing up some sparring with Darunia, armed with blunted spears (he was, any way; my spear being as sharp as ordinary but his hide extraordinarily tough). The patch over my empty eye socket was a fine piece of leather-craft, even though it consisted of nothing more than a pair of strings, one above and one below the eye, and a leather square. Still, it stayed in place and didn't hinder me. I still have it.

Zelda was also hurt; she had gotten a few broken ribs when a tent she was in collapsed. She was stoic about it, even though she was in pain most of the time and there was nothing practical to be done about it. I showed none of my former excessive angst over her condition, and she for her part was fairly matter-of-fact about mine.

She said to me, "You look good out there. I think you'll be fine."

"Let's hope so. I have a world to save."

She didn't laugh, but I'm not sure I was joking. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Well, I'm tired, if that's what you mean. Darunia trained me hard."

"Other than that. How's the, uh..."

"No need to be modest about it, Zelda. My eye, or lack thereof, is fine. How's your ribs?"

"Getting better. It doesn't hurt to breathe so much."

"Good."

"Let's go have a bath, shall we? In the hot springs?" I have forgotten to mention the Death Mountain hot springs, heated by lava from below. I had used them once or twice to clean off after a hard day of training.

"What, together?"

"Well, yeah...unless you're uncomfortable..."

"Oh, no...with our clothes on?"

"What? No, no, you'd die of heat shock if you tried to wear clothes in there!"

"I don't think I'm comfortable with that..."

"But you can't see in the water, you won't see anything and neither will I..."

"But...but how do we get in?"

"Oh, I don't know, close your eyes or something! When did you get so modest?"

"When did you get so immodest, woman? You're a princess!"

"Shh, shh, shh, not anymore. Look, Link, I pulled an arrow out of your arm with my bare hands, and I saw what looked for all the world like your head exploding. I won't see anything that will make me upset."

"Well..."

"I'll owe you a favor."

"Fine. But don't start anything funny."

"Oh, please. I should be worrying about you trying that. I just want to relax with you. We've been stressed out."

"Most recently by your indecent proposals!" We started walking to the springs nonetheless.

"Let's just do it, then. If you get uncomfortable you can leave. What, is there something wrong with your body?"

"No, I just...never mind."

As we walked I could see Zelda's smile, and her lips moving, and her eyes in mine so lovingly. I had never been in love with someone like I was with her before, and I absolutely didn't want to screw it up.

I guess it is fairly obvious from my writings that Zelda and I were attracted to one another. At this point I was beginning to realize that fact, but I had far too much to think about. It's hard, even for me now, to understand the state of mind I was in. I somehow felt, wrong as it is, that love was a weakness and a triviality that I had no time for. Every minute my mind felt as though it were going a mile a minute. I never had had this problem before, but now I felt as though I had to be worrying, to be thinking and planning and making contingencies...what if Darunia never becomes a Sage? What if he does? Where do I go next? How do I keep Zelda safe? What happens? I didn't know the answers and really should have entertained no hope of ever knowing, but I worried all the same. One might call it distracted.

"...and the Gerudo seem to use an interesting technique of forging their weaponry. Their forges in the tent city were very odd. I'm not sure..." Zelda had been making a valiant effort to engage me in conversation.

"Mmm."

"What's wrong, Link?"

"Nothing. Here we are." Gorons aren't particularly fond of the springs, or bathing in general. They simply don't understand the concept. It might be because their skin is so rocky that they can't feel the warmth of the water, and it might be because they don't sweat, and dirt doesn't bother them at all. As tempted to agree with them as years of adventuring have made me, I do not; I find baths most relaxing. In any case, I've never seen a Goron use or even acknowledge the existence of the hot springs, although I seriously doubt that they don't know about them or any other feature of their subterranean home.

"Lovely we found this spot, huh?" The air had become noticeably hotter and had taken on the tinge of sulfur that formed the only negative aspect of the experience.

"Yeah. Look, why don't you go over behind those rocks and...change, and I'll go over here."

"Oh, Mister Modesty. All right, if that makes you happy." I really don't know how Zelda got to be this shameless, but in spite of my objections I rather enjoyed this unexpected aspect of her personality. Maybe battle had made her like this.

She gave me a smile and disappeared behind a series of stalactites, and I quickly disrobed.

"Okay, I'm coming out, Link!"

"Wait, wait, wait! I need to get in!" I eased my naked body into the hot water. I'd estimate the temperature at a hundred and five degrees, and it took some getting used to for one to hop in. "Okay. I'll close my eyes." It didn't come naturally to use the singular "eye" and I don't think it ever will. The dichotomy of our eyes is something that must be deeply embedded in our brains.

Zelda giggled and, I can assume, came out from behind the rocks. I didn't hear her footsteps, and I had no idea where she was...until she appeared behind me and clapped me on the back.

"AH!" My eyes shot open and I frantically looked around and, inevitably, I turned around to face Zelda, the suddenly looked away, having caught a glimpse of her nude body. "Oh, please, please, just get in!"

"Oh, all right," she laughed. She slid into the water and gave a sigh of satisfaction. "You need to loosen up. It's nothing you haven't seen before."

"Er..."

"Well, no matter, it's nothing you won't see eventually. Right?"

"I suppose..." I opened my eyes and saw Zelda at the opposite side of the pool from me, up to her neck, relaxing. I let my tense self relax a bit, and slid down until the water was past my shoulders. It touched my hair, and I realized that I hadn't had a proper haircut in weeks, and it was getting to be rather long. "How did you sneak up on me like that?"

"Would you have asked me that had I been in my Sheik outfit?" was her response. "I did actually learn to do everything that you saw me do, when I was Sheik."

"Well, you're not Sheik now, and he seems to have nothing at all to do with you." I shouldn't have mentioned that, because it sent a chill up Zelda's spine in spite of the heat of the springs.

"I just can't get over that," she told me, moving to the center of the pool. "I thought I had made up an identity when I became Sheik. But it seems...if what you say is true...I was somehow fulfilling destiny."

"I guess so. Who can say what significance what we do will have?"

"Yeah. It's just so strange. I feel...well, I guess I feel good that I did the job well enough."

Zelda fell silent and the only noise was the swirl of water as she moved about aimlessly. I don't know how long there was a pause.

"Link. I love you." Zelda's voice came out of the clear blue like a bell. I blinked but was not startled.

"You must know it, Link. I can't hide what I feel." She approached me, looking into my face with an expression I had never seen before, one of love, and hope, and joy, and sadness, and more I can't place. I still had not moved. I was unable to, I was utterly consumed with internal, emotional turmoil.

"Just tell me how you feel. I can't live without knowing. I know that...that now...I wish I could be saying this to you in another time, another place."

I felt I needed to respond. "How...when did you..."

"I don't know, Link, maybe I always loved you but I couldn't tell. I just know that I can't stop thinking about you and I have to know..."

"Zelda..."

She was now at arm's length to me, and the desire to clutch her to my body, to hold and love and commune with her and us and ourselves in our final, blissful apotheosis...it drove me mad. But I couldn't...I can't...I don't know why I acted why I did, but I think now it was the right thing to have done.

"Zelda, I don't know..." She put a tender, beautiful hand to my chest.

Why didn't I say it then? What was I thinking? I don't think I was delusional. I think I was just stressed, but moreover I think I just couldn't handle it. Love...what does love bring but weakness, but pain? I know it's not true, but I couldn't...it wasn't the time...I wasn't ready...I couldn't handle it...

These ejaculations flashed in my mind as I tried to respond. All the while I was looking into Zelda's angelic face, her eyes like wells of aching desire and hope and joy and promise, waiting for me...

"I can't." I gently but decisively took her hand and moved it.

"Can't...oh, I didn't mean anything like that..." Zelda blushed deeply and moved away from me, mortified. "I'm sorry if you thought I wanted..."

"No, no. You wouldn't...but...I can't be in love with you now."

"What? Link, I know you have a lot on your mind and that I am not as important..."

"You are everything to me, Zelda! Not important? You are all that matters to me. All that I live for. But...I just..."

"It's all right, Link. I understand."

"You don't. You can't. It's just something...I have to deal with. Something that is keeping me from...from saying how I feel."

"Don't be shy..."

"Not shyness. Zelda...I...I want to say I love you. I love you and I have always loved you and I always will, forever. I want to let you come to my arms, but I can't..."

"Why?"

"Now is not the time for love, Zelda. Now I can't deal with love. I can deal with a quest, a great evil, with my own personal struggle to recover from all that's happened to me. But I can't love you now. Not now."

"When, then?"

"I don't know. Maybe never."

"It's all right, Link. You don't need to do anything...just say that you love me so I can know that all my dreams are real."

"I love you, Zelda. But not...I can't..." I put my head in my hands, ready to weep. The feelings inside me were threatening to tear me apart. What was I to say?

"I love you, Link, and no matter what happens and how you feel, I always will. I'll wait. I'll wait until you can love me."

"Thank...thank you." I heard the water ripple, and I felt her divine arms on my body, felt her breasts and thighs against mine and felt her warm breath. I sat for a moment inert, then let my arm go to her head and stroke her luscious hair. But that was all. In a moment she had left the pool, dressed, and gone, and I was alone in the water that was being unhallowed with my impure tears.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12  
**

The remnants of the Gerudo camp had fallen back to around Kakariko, where they entered into the protection of those already there, laying siege. Word had it that an army of reinforcements, led by Verletz himself, was on its way.

In the dusty tents of the besiegers, numerous makeshift hospitals were lit by lamps from within day and night. In one such hospital was a young woman being treated for her wounds.

"AHH! Din's fiery nails!" She cried out in anguish as the surgeon wiggled the arrow that was embedded, nearly to the fletching, in her midriff, just below her left breast.

"To which your soul will be consigned, if you don't stop moving around. The arrow is deep, shot to kill. You're lucky it missed your lung."

The surgeon's breath came in short pants, sweat beading her face, as she worked at the shaft.

Malon collapsed again, breathing heavily, succumbing to the agony and letting the surgeon do what she could. "Get it out, out!" she gasped desperately. The surgeon made no comment. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, she removed the blood-soaked tip of the missile, delicately, to avoid the serrated edges from ripping the wound still larger. Immediately after she clamped a gauze on the hole to staunch the bleeding. Malon gave a sigh of immense relief.

"You'll heal in time. Just don't try anything too hasty."

Malon was too exhausted with pain to do anything but nod weakly. The surgeon left without formality.

She lay semi-conscious, verging on sleep or collapse, for a short while, before being roused by vague shouts of amazement outside. Presently she made out the voice of her commander Nabooru, who was uninjured, speaking to someone just outside the entrance to the tent.

"My lord, it is heartening to see you, for surely your wits will lead us to victory over our stubborn foes of the mountain."

"Fear not. I will crush them. But I wish to speak with the one in this tent."

"Malon? Absolutely, sir, but why..."

"Don't trouble yourself about it. Just see that we are not disturbed."

"Yes, my lord."

And with that, the tent flaps parted and Verletz himself strode to Malon's bedside. At first the maiden thought herself delirious.

"My child, are you hurt unto death?" The man was calm, and handsome. He was clad in his white vestments, but his shawl and turban had been removed, revealing a face that was slender and delicate, of the Hylian race, with expressive eyes and supple lips, framed by a shoulder-length shock of dirty blond hair.

"No, sir," Malon said quietly.

"Your sacrifice in the name of our cause will be rewarded. But first there is something I must ask of you."

"Any service I may render, I shall," said the girl, awed.

"There is something that you have...experienced. I sense that you have done something that you dare not speak of."

Malon shuddered, fearing that her master would punish her if he knew what she had released, although his tone and expression still conveyed only sympathy. However, she felt that hiding it from him could only aggravate him further, and that it was useless to hide things from a man who could see her naked soul.

"I...I will tell you all that happened."

"Proceed." And Malon explained it. The destruction of her raiding party, the lost survivors in the maze of tunnels, the strange tomb of unknown gods, and the ultimate horror of the sealed door and the horror within: all these passed from her lips. Her master remained calm and silent, as if he knew already.

"Do not fear. I know of the tomb and the monster of which you speak. Not in my own waking life, but in dreams, and remembrances of things not of this world, but of the others, I have seen it and known the signs of power by which to control it. Once, it was my slave."

"When?"

A strange half-smile crossed the lips of Verletz. "It matters not. Now I no longer can conjure the symbols by which to master the thing. But it may do us some good. Perhaps it will attack the Gorons."

"Or..." Malon's voice was pregnant with tense expectancy.

"Do not fear. My powers are such that I could destroy it, if need be. But...actually..." His face changed to a look of deep thought. "Do not trouble yourself. All will be well. We are the chosen of Din, mother of fire, and no creature that dwells in the lava of that volcano will threaten us. Now, for your honesty, I will give you my blessing." So saying, he laid a hand on the bloodied cloth that covered Malon's wound, and spoke strange words, evoking the name of Din. His eyes closed, and a calm smile appeared on his face. Malon felt a warmth flow from his hand, as if the warm fire of the sun was bathing her hurt. And when Verletz lifted away his hand, and drew back the cloth, Malon gaped to find the bloody hole sealed, with only the littlest scar to mark its former existence.

"Y...your magic can heal, my lord?" said the dumbfounded girl.

"Din is not a merciful lord, but she does reward those who sacrifice to her. Not lightly can I use such healing, but Din deems you worthy."

"I owe you my profoundest thanks."

"Rest now. You are still exhausted from the battle." He rose from her cot and left, as a sweet exhaustion flooded Malon, and she fell to sleep blissfully.

* * *

Later that evening, Verletz retired to a tent he had appropriated, and had called all his generals to council with him. These were tough, battle-scarred veterans, for no qualities but competence in battle did Verletz value in his officers. Among the group, also, was Nabooru, only a captain, but invited because she too had seen the horror that Malon had. 

"I do not know when, or even if, the thing will show itself," he said. "It may have even already returned to sleep. But we must prepare ourselves. The magic I will perform will drain me utterly; I will be unable to command the troops. But it is vital that I perform it, for with their damnable mountain to hide in we will never destroy them utterly."

A chorus of agreement rose from those seated around him.

"Can mortal weapons harm this creature?" asked one general.

"They can, they _have_," he answered, a glimmer of anger in his voice as he spoke the last word. "I must ask you to finish what I start. By Din, the bugle that announces our charge to arms will be the grinding of stone!"

* * *

I dressed in haste and left the springs. I returned to my chambers, where I collapsed on the bed, emotionally if not physically exhausted. As I stared up at the ceiling, I had nothing to do but think. 

What had I done? Why did I let the one chance for happiness in my life pass me by? Maybe I'm not destined for happiness. I don't know. I wished I had done it: I wish I had crushed her to my breast, her lips to mine, I wish I had said yes, yes! But I knew that if I could do it again my response would be the same. It couldn't be...not now...

I barely noticed her when she entered.

"Link?"

"Oh, oh...gods..." I stammered incoherently.

"Shh." She put a finger to her lips. "Don't worry about it. I'm going to pretend it never happened. You did the right thing."

"But...I don't want it to not have happened."

"Don't worry," she repeated. "I just want you to come with me so we can have some food."

"A...all right." She offered me a hand, and I took it and rose from my bed. I lingered with my hand in hers for a second, but then...something told me to break it off, to not give in to my love for her, to stay focused on the mission at hand. I withdrew my hand, and she made no comment. We walked towards the mess hall.

"Zelda, I have to tell you how I feel..."

"You did. What you said was all I needed." She smiled warmly. "I understand everything, Link. I know that you don't need to deal with anything more than what you have. I'll wait. I'll wait as long as it takes."

"Okay." I felt weak. I wanted to get down on my knees and beg forgiveness from her, from this divine, wonderful, beautiful woman that I had slighted.

Then the earthquake came.

A tremor shook the floor, and Zelda and I nearly fell. Then it grew, stronger and stronger, and I grabbed Zelda and dove to the floor, shielding her with my body, as the world blurred to my sight and a horrible grinding, like a thunderclap in slow motion, a roar from the maw of hell, consumed my hearing. Then there was a rending tear and a blinding light.

* * *

Moments earlier, on the slopes of Death Mountain, a white-robed man stood, many feet away from the throng of warriors behind him. He stood motionless, his garments blowing in a stiff breeze, his eyes focused with burning intensity on the side of the mountain. Then his voice lifted on the wind and spoke a terrible invocation, a plea to his dark god to smite his foes, a ghastly cadence that grew in intensity as an approaching avalanche, which penetrated the unconscious minds of all who heard, and which they would remember to their dying days: 

"Oh fiery Din, she who shaped the world with her burning arms and formed from naught the earth and stone, by my signs and powers I call you to the earth to rend what you have created asunder, to caress with your flaming hands this miserable pile, to cleave it in twain that we might smite your enemies within!"

His voice had risen to a frenzied shriek, and he cried with horrible conviction the final arcane syllables of his magic, in a voice that rang from the rocks and chilled to the core the doughtiest of his warriors.

With that, the mountain groaned with terrible convulsions. With a shuddering, thunderous report that shook the earth, the hills parted like curtains, and the rocks fell like no normal avalanche should. The fell to the left and the right, as water breaking on rock. The echoes sounded and re-sounded for minutes, and when the choking dust finally settled, the dumbfounded warriors beheld a mangled heap of stone, and, like a bee's nest split in half, the Goron city, choked with rubble and splintered wood, its intricate twisting passages laid bare.

Verletz's white form lay on the ground. A grim smile twisted his unconscious face. Immediately two high-ranking generals bore his body away, and the others formed the stammering, half-stunned masses into organized units. Death Mountain was now half destroyed, a cruel spire rising scornfully into the sky, surrounded by a sea of stone.

* * *

My vision was blurred and veiled, my brain numbed by the terrific force. I slowly regained feeling: Zelda was beneath me, panting softly. Above? 

I tried to stand, I couldn't. It was dark.

"Zelda, are you all right?"

"I'm...I'm okay."

Then pain hit me---unimaginable pain. Pressure. We were trapped. I struggled and managed to clear a space so I could slide off of Zelda. I probed the walls of my prison and felt rocks. I tore, I fumbled, I pried. I began to see shafts of light filtering through the rubble. With renewed hope I continued to dig. The rocks were irregular, fist-sized or bigger. Their sharp points poked my palms. Finally, with a gasp, I emerged from the rubble. I felt Zelda behind me crawling out. I went blind.

In a minute or two my eyes adjusted again and I saw something that defied reason. A rubble-choked slope, and a Gerudo army. At one moment I had been inside the safety of the impenetrable Goron city, and now I was naked, in the open, facing an army that seemed immeasurable. Then I saw movement near me.

A Goron head poked out of the rubble. Then more, and more. Around me were Gorons, with rage and bewilderment in their eyes. I looked to recognize any.

"Darunia! Little Link!"

No one answered. I decided to act.

"Get up! Everyone who can! We have to get back to safety!" Gorons began to climb out of the avalanche and gaze, dumbfounded, at their situation. At the sound of my voice a few of them began to move towards me, slowly, laboriously over the rocks.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Verletz! It is the dark lord Verletz and his magic!" screamed one. "We are doomed!"

"Shut up! We've got to get to safety somewhere!" I couldn't let a panic spread.

"Where? They destroyed the whole city! We can't hold out against them all!"

"We have to fall back..." I trailed off. I had lost confidence in my words. It seemed that the sea of Gerudo was infinite. Already they were forming ranks. They focused into a wedge, an arrowhead, with a tip scarcely twenty soldiers wide, with more and more behind them. In minutes, they would charge in and destroy the handful of Gorons that had crawled out and were congregating around me. Then they would wait for the others to emerge...and then...

I looked, desperately, for somewhere to retreat into. Behind me, I saw a rubble-choked hole---a tunnel, one that probably entered the Goron city, a hundred yards behind me. "There! We have to get to that tunnel!"

"It's blocked!" said Zelda.

"It's our best shot!" I started off, moving as fast as I could over the rubble. Zelda followed, and the Gorons followed her. Twenty or so were with us, and I saw around us more and more emerging from the rock, like pumpkins in a field. They seemed little bothered by the cave-in physically. I yelled as I went for them to follow me. I turned behind me and saw the Gerudo army begin to move, slowly, like a parade. Units of archers were forming up, although we were currently out of bowshot range, but it was obvious that they intended to remedy that fact. Behind me a clump of Gorons were beginning to follow me.

We reached the rubble-strewn hole and I desperately began clearing rocks from it, heedless of the pain that shot through my bloody hands. I broke through to the other side, felt my hand enter open space, then suddenly, I felt a cold, rocky grasp on it. I gave a startled yelp, but before I could react further, the pile of rocks seemed to explode---rocks went everywhere and before I knew what happened half of the blockage was gone and I could see clearly into the passage. A face was there.

"Hey! Get in here!" It was Darunia. I nearly wept for joy that he was alive, and here to command us. "I'll be damned! You're alive!"

"Yes. We have to...we need..." I stuttered, not sure what we had to do or needed.

"We gotta regroup. That cave-in couldn't have killed many soldiers but they're scattered and buried. Come with me!"

"What about the others?" I gestured to the Gorons behind me.

"ALL OF YOU! GET IN HERE!" The Gorons looked dazed for a second but soon came around and began filing into the exposed part of the hole.

"What about you?" Darunia asked as they entered. "Come on!"

"I'm not going in until the rest have gone!"

"All right. Just follow us. Oh," he leaned closer to me, "and don't worry. It's not as bad as it looks. That collapse actually didn't do that much damage to the city, and really it's just made it harder for them to get to us."

I doubted his words, but nonetheless took comfort from them.

Throughout all the proceedings Zelda has been silent, not afraid or startled or really displaying any emotion at all. Her face was a pale mask framed by wisps of hair and lips that trembled occasionally. Gradually her breathing became heavier and I started to hear it as she drew closer to me.

The army, like a menacing lion waiting in a crouch, was still at least a mile downhill, but already the soldiers on point were beginning to trundle up the rubble-choked landslide. Speed was not their weapon. I tried to help Darunia herd the Gorons who emerged into the tunnel, but my eyes kept drifting back to that colossus. I had fought monsters before, but here was a monster beyond all reason, a beast with ten thousand minds all merged into one massive will to destroy. It was frightening.

Finally, after several tense minutes, no more Gorons emerged from the rubble. I wasn't counting survivors; it will suffice to say "too few."

I followed the stragglers into the tunnel, and soon I discovered that this was not a miraculous trapdoor to freedom. The tunnel opened into a rubble-choked cave, barely large enough to hold the several hundred Gorons present.

It was totally dark in the cave except for Navi's faint glow, which troubled the Gorons not a bit but which put Zelda and I on edge. We seemed braced for some terrible blow, another earthquake come to destroy us. I waited for Darunia to say something. He did not. The silence was deafening. I had to speak.

"We can't stay here. We have to go. We need to rebuild, to reorganize. They can't get to us in any reasonable amount of time."

"Yeah, where? Where do we go?" a Goron in the audience asked, panicked. "It's all gone."

"It is _not _all gone," said Darunia fiercely, his love for his home clearly obvious. "It's there, but it's under the rubble. We can't go there now, but we will get it back. We will."

"So where do we go?" Zelda asked, not with a great amount of fear, but with far more simple practicality.

Then I had an idea. Everything was so different in this new time, this new world...maybe...

"Do Gorons suffer from great heat? Could you live in a volcano?"

Darunia seemed a little puzzled, and answered, "We're okay in the caldera at the top of Death Mountain, if that's what you mean."

"That's totally exposed!" one of the Gorons shouted. "We'd just have to wait for them to reach the top and come to destroy us!"

"First of all," I began, growing more confident, "I know from experience that it's too hot for anyone who's not a Goron to survive in there for longer than two or three minutes. And we don't have to worry about non-Gorons, because Zelda and I aren't going to be staying, and the other non-Gorons who were here seem to have died in the avalanche." The gravity of what I had just said made me pause for a moment.

"Verletz's magic can bring low the mountains themselves! Surely he could gird his troops in protective wards to keep them alive..."

"Probably. That's why you're not going to stay in the caldera. You're going in the Fire Temple." I wasn't sure if they'd know what I was talking about.

"The Fire Temple?" Darunia was stunned. The idea had clearly never entered his mind. "That abandoned ruin? Gorons haven't been there for years...but...it would work..."

"Yes. I know it will work, because I've been there before."

Zelda, who knew what I was talking about, asked, "Will it be the same? Didn't you say there were fiery monsters there?"

"Gannondorf put them there. Gannondorf made Volvagia his slave, and he filled its home with monsters. That shouldn't have happened."

Darunia, of course, had no idea what to make of our conversation. "So it's safe, and humans can't go there?"

"Yes."

"Great. Let's go. If I recall correctly, it's in the caldera and we just need to climb up a few hundred feet and over the lip of the volcano. If we hurry, they probably won't even be able to see us from that far, much less shoot at us with arrows." He looked at my missing eye and then turned to lead the troops.

* * *

Malon and Nabooru, with their squad following behind, were scaling the rubble-choked slopes. It was not a steep climb, but it was slow, and knee-bruising, but Malon didn't mind. A few weeks ago, she had scored her first kill. Now, she was helping the army conquer the recalcitrant foe that had plagued them for months. 

"What are we here to do?" she asked, not because she didn't know, but because she wanted to hear Nabooru give her inspiring rhetoric once more.

"We're going to march up and down this miserable rock," said the seasoned commander, feeding and reverberating Malon's emotion like a maestro. "We're going to find every last Goron scum that still lives and we're going to make them bow their bald little heads to the lord Verletz, and they will cringe before our might like sheep!"

"Yes! Yes!" The girl gripped her scimitar with white knuckles, slavering for a throat to slit.

But then something seemed wrong.

A few hundred feet in front of them, where the first squads to begin marching were walking, the boulders shifted. Red light shot out in thin beams from under the rubble. The soldiers there stepped back, afraid. Then, as if in slow motion, the rocks exploded, flying as deadly shrapnel in all directions, and a torrent of heat surely born of the blast furnaces of hell swept over those present.

The dragon had returned, and its home was rubble. Revenge would be his.

As Volvagia emerged sinuously from the rubble, it blazed with unimaginable rage. Its visage was like fire given hateful sentience. With a deafening blast of fire from its jaws, the creature descended on the Gerudo who still lived, ejecting gouts of flame that crisped flesh from bone and left blackened skeletons in its wake.

Verletz, the only person who could possibly have rallied the troops or stopped the creature, was comatose, his power utterly spent. The generals that commanded in his stead were broken, terrified utterly, and issuing contradictory orders. In only a few minutes the Gerudo were routed. Individuals were fleeing in disorder, and the leaders were giving the order to retreat. Already hundreds lay dead. Volvagia was an unstoppable engine of destruction and it was wreaking its terrible vengeance on the helpless army.

* * *

All this we witnessed, awestruck, as we made our way up the steep, rubble-strewn side of the mountain toward what remained of the caldera. After struggling for a few minutes on our own, Darunia, with his unbreakable strength, lifted Zelda and I onto his shoulders and resumed bounding up the side of the mountain. Zelda's hand gripped mine tightly. 

We reached the lip of the crater after about a half-hour, the Gorons moving with awe and fear away from Volvagia's rampage of destruction. The Gorons were directed to the Fire Temple, which to my great relief was on the half of the mountain that was not destroyed. Darunia, Zelda, and I remained on the lip, looking pitilessly down on the mindless devastation below us.

"It's a godsend," Darunia said. "We could not have asked for a more fortunate outcome. I mean, I thought Volvagia was almost a myth, a creature that would sleep forever...but here it is, destroying the Gerudo."

Something clicked in my mind. I turned, and Zelda mirrored my worried gaze.

Darunia turned to us. "You two can't come with us; it's too hot for your bodies. The attention of the Gerudo forces is elsewhere. You two are small and swift. Now is you chance. Escape."

Somberly, Zelda spoke, "Darunia, we can't leave Volvagia alive. We have to kill it, and you have to help us."

With a look of incredulity and seriousness, he said, very coldly, "No."

Then, responding to the look of disappointment in Zelda's eyes, he went on, "I don't know what your game is, but I won't be a party to destroying the greatest boon we've had in months. Good luck and goodbye."

"No!" she cried, reaching out for him and stopping him. "You must help us! You must!"

"Why?" he asked crossly.

She faltered. "I…can't explain…but it's important."

His eyes flashed angrily. "I've had enough of your absurd 'time-traveling heroes from another reality' story. I've had to look out for you, guard you, protect you, be your guide, stick my neck out for you. And yet you still answer my questions with merely 'I can't explain,' as though the _wise_ Hylians couldn't _possibly_ be expected to explain something to the stupid Gorons." I winced; many stereotyped Gorons as being dumb and slow, and the Gorons carried a massive chip on their shoulder for it.

"Well I'm through with it," he continued angrily. "I won't listen to this – "

I stepped in between the two of them and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Think of Volvagia," I pressed, my voice urgent. "It won't be content killing Gerudos for long. You and your people are its food of choice. What if it turns its attentions here?" I saw fear and understanding begin to cloud his features. "You are now living in its home. If it returns here, your people will be wiped out. You can't fight Volvagia _and_ the Gerudos. And what if Verletz turns Volvagia into a weapon?" Here, I turned and pointed down at the battle below. "Imagine that descending upon your people."

I saw that my argument had begun to win Darunia over to my side. Warily, he asked, "How could anyone master that creature? It bows to no one."

"What?" I demanded in a façade of incredulity. "Did Verletz not just destroy half the mountain? Who truly has the measure of his power? Will you risk your people on the chance he cannot turn the monster to his power? And besides, I know you don't believe our story, but I have seen it happen. Volvagia was a slave to the most evil man in existence, and the entire Goron race was on the verge of annihilation."

He stepped back, and my hand fell from his shoulder. He crossed his arms, and his brow creased as he thought upon my words. After a few brief moments, he lifted his gaze, and asked, "How do you know that we can defeat it?"

"Because I've done it once before."

His eyebrows raised, and I saw that he now finally believed me; finally believed our story of being time-traveling heroes from another reality. He turned to face the two of us at once. "But how will you two make a difference?"

"We won't," I said, conviction in my voice. "You will."

His face became a mask of resolution and determination. "All right," he said. "Let's do it."

I looked with admiration at the man who was about to become a Sage. I looked to Zelda and began to speak: "You don't ha..."

She cut me off. "I'm coming. We're in this together and you need to learn that."

"All right, all right."

"What are we going to do to fight it, though? I don't know about you but the mountainside is hard to fight on." Darunia was right. Just moving around was a chore, fighting a flying monstrosity would be nigh impossible.

"There's nowhere up here that all three of us can fight. How long will it take us to get to the bottom of the mountain?"

"Me?" Darunia gave a rare smile. "A couple of minutes, all curled up. You two won't be able to follow nearly that fast."

"You can't take him on alone. How long, walking?"

"Five or six hours, with all this rubble, I'd say. I can carry you."

"Thank you. I think we'll just have to start down. Hopefully Volvagia won't be going anywhere."

"The whole Gerudo camp will take at least six hours to pack up and flee, with Volvagia harrying them the whole time. And whatever happens, I know for sure there will be no Gerudo looking for us." I was feeling confident.

As we went down the side of the mountain, we deliberately averted our eyes from the slaughter going on below. We didn't owe the Gerudo any love, but we none of us was quick to embrace any slaughter.

The hours dragged by. It was surreal, something that no one should ever be doing, and we were doing it. Through our occasional glances at the Gerudo camp, it looked as though our timing would be perfect. Thousands upon thousands of souls were flowing around the circular city like water flowing around a rock in a stream, and those in the camp were struggling to push through the gates facing away from the mountain, to retreat back to Kakariko and Hyrule Field and safety. All the while, a shifting, writhing rope of flame hovered over the masses, strafing with blasts of fire. Arrows bounced off its scales, or incinerated before they even struck from the intense heat radiating from the monster.

As we drew within a few hundred feet of the smoldering timbers that once were the earthworks of the Gerudo camps, I had a shuddering realization that somewhere around here were fragments of my skull, somewhere near here my blood soaked into the earth and all over Zelda's lap. It was a disturbing realization.

The monster was at the other side of the ruined camp. The devastation was total: nothing but rubble, still-burning tents, and ashen skeletons of buildings and structures remained. We walked through the ruins until we neared the center. We saw, with no buildings to obstruct our view, the last Gerudo fleeing the gates. The dragon gave one last blast of fire to the Gerudo, and then it turned, preparing to return to its home. Then it saw us.

People argue about whether Volvagia is intelligent. Certainly, it is as intelligent as any other predator. But at that moment it seemed far more intelligent than a wolf. Circling around overhead, its fiery eyes looked us three tiny figures over, sizing us up. It somehow could sense, with whatever intellect was locked in its massive head, that we were no ordinary Gerudo, fleeing and mad with terror. We were coming, specifically, to challenge it, and it was as though the great beast smiled at the notion and accepted our challenge.

"Zelda...you stay safe and shoot it as much as you can. I don't know how much arrows can hurt it. Shoot for the face, the mouth, the eyes...somewhere that's not covered in scales and not on fire." I spoke clearly but quickly.

"Darunia, you and I have to engage it directly. We need some way to get it on the ground, or else I can't hurt it. You can get close, you can touch it without getting burned, right?"

"Burned? A Goron?" Darunia seemed insulted. "But you'll need to look out. It breathes fire. I'll try to draw its breath at myself instead of toward you and Zelda."

Volvagia was done giving us time to plan. With quickness incredible for such a huge creature, it whipped its head around and came straight at me, teeth bared.

I flung myself to the side, throwing a thrust towards the creature as I dove, but could not strike it significantly, my sword glancing from its hard plates. Zelda, arrow nocked, hopped away from the creature and targeted after its head, but its movement was too fast for her to get a decent shot. Darunia scarcely moved, merely shifted his weight away from the speeding creature, and then lunged toward the thing's burning body. Heedless of the flames, Darunia grabbed the monster's body and hung on. The creature immediately whirled its head around and came after Darunia. To avoid being swallowed whole, Darunia had no choice but to slacken his grip and go flying off the monster's back. He fell perhaps twenty feet as Zelda and I looked on, stunned, and traveled a good distance horizontally from the momentum imparted by the monster's whiplash. He landed with a ground-shaking thud on his back, but was on his feet again in an instant, face grimacing with determination. Zelda and I gave each other a last look and split, moving in opposite directions, circling the coiled monster in the air. It was our best chance for beating it, using our numbers.

The creature kept focusing on Darunia, which was best. The dragon swooped low and shot its fiery breath. Darunia, stoic, shut his eyes and let the fire engulf him. Moments later he emerged from the flames, the ground around him scorched but he himself unscathed. The monster kept coming; Darunia saw his opening. He held his hands out and let the monster's jaws come to him. The teeth punctured his palms, with a trickle of his dark blood, but he held on in spite of the intense pain he was obviously feeling. The jaws tried to crush him, but his iron strength wavered only slightly. The dragon's forward momentum pushed Darunia along the ground, as the long body piled up behind him. The dragon just would not let the Goron go. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, witnessing the two titans matching one another's power.

Then, I saw some ways away from me, Zelda, crouching behind a ruined wall, appear with bow at full draw and aimed at the monster's head. But when she released the arrow, something amazing happened.

The arrowhead flared into brilliant light, so pure and radiant as to be beautiful. It shot for what seemed like an eternity towards the monster and struck true, hitting Volvagia in what would be the cheek. The light flashed and flared, engulfing the monster's head, and it reared up, dropping Darunia and emitting a shriek that sounded like steel on stone. Its fires burst higher in its pain, and its burning blood splattered over the ground. Then, as I looked on in horror, it turned directly at Zelda and came at her full speed.

As it swooped overhead, the monster breathed fire at her, and she dove behind the wall for cover. Then the monster's enormous tail whipped across the battlefield, and smashed her cover to rubble. Bricks and splinters flew everywhere, and I heard a sharp scream that was drowned out in the crash.

"No!" I gasped in a whisper. I immediately tore off across the streets to get to her, heedless of the monster. Darunia said nothing, but resumed attempting to distract the creature. I reached the pile of rubble in a flash and began fling rocks away, shouting for Zelda.

In only a second or two I felt her body, and I flung rubble aside to reach her. She coughed a few times and then pushed the rubble off herself, and sat up. "Unh...owwww..." I could see some bleeding cuts on her face, and bruises were inevitable, but nothing serious.

"Zelda, are you all right?" My voice was steady, far too steady considering how frightened I was for her.

"I'm fine." She blinked, paused. "I'm fine, get going! I'm a little burned, but I'll be fine."

I offered a hand, she accepted: hands clasped I helped her to her feet. A moment, only a tiny moment, passed as we stood.

"All right. Let's go."

Darunia was becoming tired. I needed to act.

I went at a run towards Darunia and soon I was near him. He didn't acknowledge me, but I knew he knew I was there. Zelda was behind me, readying another arrow.

"One more time! Grab it!" I yelled at Darunia. He looked at me and then toward the monster.

Volvagia swooped again and its jaws closed over Darunia's massive body. The gnashing jaws snapped at him, but his rocky skin deflected the teeth. Bloody wounds appeared, but it seemed no worse than a dog bite. Zelda shot another arrow, and again it flared into light. The creature screeched, and Darunia was surely in intense pain from the noise. Then, while the creature writhed, the great Goron lunged. His enormous weight crashed into the monster's head, and both it and Darunia struck the ground. Darunia's enormous strength was enough to wrestle the monster's head to the ground for only a moment. Reflexively, its long body flailing and thrashing, Volvagia breathed forth fire again. The flame passed so close to me I felt some of the hair on my arm sizzle, but I moved forward with confidence.

Just as the creature seemed about to break free, the Master Sword hummed through the air. The blade struck the side of the monster's head, and it screamed again, in a different tone, a piercing shriek of agony and fear. Blood sprayed on the blade, on my clothes and my face and on Darunia. The creature thrashed and writhed and shrieked. With fury in my eyes I brought the sword down again, like a knife, point thrusting toward the dirt. A crunch, a splash of boiling blood, a final, earsplitting shriek, and I tore the blade from it and stumbled back as the creature writhed in its death throes. Its enormous body reared up, stiffened, and fell back. The flames died down. It was over.

"The head." Darunia was urgent. "Destroy its head. Cut it off. This thing must never come back."

I didn't know why he wanted this, but I couldn't really argue with him. I swallowed and approached the head that lay, lifeless, before me.

I hacked at the thick joint between the neck scale and the head. I penetrated only an inch. I hacked again. Blood squirted onto my boots, covering me even further with disgusting gore. Again and again I struck. The joints were unbelievably thick and powerful. It's next to impossible to sever a human's head in one stroke, and even with as many as you want it takes some effort. But this neck was three feet in diameter. I cut through its leathery skin. I cut through its steely muscle. I hit vertebrae, and at my angle I would have had to cut straight through its bone, so I had to gouge flesh away so I could cut through the softer cartilage between the bone. I cut through the spinal column. The blood trickled from the sides of the rift in thick torrents. I looked like a butcher. Zelda turned pale, then looked away and wretched onto the ground, and I nearly joined her. Finally, after what must have been five exhausting, sweaty, blood-soaked minutes, the head was off. Darunia, who was watching approvingly, hefted the massive trophy over his head with both hands. "A fine prize from a battle well-fought."

"It's finally over. It's over." I was utterly spent. Splattered with blood and soaked in sweat and the filth of battle, I sank to my knees and let my sword and shield go slack. Zelda approached me, recovering from her disgust, and put a hand to my shoulder. I looked up at her admiringly. "Zelda...how did you create..."

Then, as I had seen so many times before after I had defeated great evils, a shining blue portal appeared where Volvagia's head once was. It was a beam of blue light descending from the heavens. Darunia looked at me, unsure. I reassured him.

"It's fate. It's destiny. This is it. You step into this beam as Darunia the lieutenant. You will leave it Darunia the Sage."

"The Sage?"

Zelda stepped up. "Trust us. This is the way."

He set his jaw, nodded, and stepped unhesitating into the beam. He was bourn away into the sky in a moment. Zelda turned to me. I gestured toward the portal obligingly, and she went in first. Then, I took a final look back at the body of Volvagia, the ruined camp, and the jagged spire of Death Mountain, and the stepped in as well.


	13. Chapter 13

I've teleported dozens of times in my fractured life, but each time is like a new experience. It's never really possible to anticipate, to grow accustomed to, the sensation of nonexistence. First you feel weightless, and then...you don't feel. You aren't anywhere, you're somewhere where you are when you aren't anywhere else. For a while you have the indescribable feeling that you are nothingness flying through a tunnel to nowhere, and then you're back, floating to the ground slowly.

Between my feet was the blue ethereal floor of the Sacred Realm. As I landed softly, I shook my head a bit to clear my vision, and I saw with relief that Zelda and I were safe. Whatever force had interfered with our teleportation when Rauru sent us to Death Mountain had not affected us this time.

There, before us, was Darunia, standing reflectively on the red diagram that represented the Fire Medallion. His face was calm, meditative, knowing...a far cry from how I had become used to seeing him in the days we had dwelled with him.

Zelda, beside me, was unharmed, just a little dizzy. She put an arm to my shoulder to steady herself, then removed it. Both our gazes turned to Darunia, as Navi emerged from her fairy space that she likes to hide in.

"Welcome." The transformation Darunia had undergone was remarkable. Enlightened is the only way I can describe it: calm with the calmness of knowing all and accepting all that must be.

"Darunia..."

"Thank you, my brother, for awakening me." My relief was boundless.

"Then...you are now a Sage?"

"I always was, somehow. But now I am aware of it. When I stepped through that portal I was Darunia, lieutenant of the Gorons, and here I now stand, Darunia the Sage of Fire, as you so aptly put it. My mind has opened a secret gate and allowed knowledge of the ages to enter."

"What have you learned?" asked Zelda.

"For one thing, I feel foolish for doubting your time-traveler stories now," said Darunia with a grin.

"Then you know of the first quest? Of Ganondorf?"

"Yes. And I now know, as if I had always known, of my duty as the Sage of Fire. Link, Hero of Time, to aid you in your quest is my destined duty."

"What must you do? What must I do? I have many questions..."

"I know only a portion of the secrets you seek. There is another who can answer for you."

"What will become of you?" Zelda asked.

"I must guard my people and serve them as we rebuild our society. The Gerudo will trouble us no more, now that the Sage of Fire has awakened. And when the time comes, I will help the Hero of Time, and Princess Zelda the Seventh Sage, destroy the evil of Ganondorf...that is, Verletz."

"And where should we go?"

"To awaken the Sages is your only hope of defeating Verletz, of defeating Ganondorf once and for all. You will meet the Sages, each in their turn, through the circumstances of fate, for such is destiny."

"We are destined to meet?"

"Destiny runs through all beings and all times, Link," said Darunia. "I'll try to explain it this way. No matter how you fracture time, no matter what path you steer yourself down, there will always be the Hero. There will always be the Hero, there will always be the Princess, the Sages, and the Dark Lord, and there will always be Sheik." I saw Zelda squirm uncomfortably at the mention.

"And unless you die, it will always be you, Link, who is the Hero...and Zelda the Princess, and so on. What you did, when you slew Ganondorf, you threw the role of the Dark Lord to another: to Verletz. So you see, this cycle of destiny is unavoidable. Your goal is to steer destiny in such a way that the outcome is favorable, and allows you the rest you richly deserve.

You will see this, Link, as the timelines merge. For that is the final and irrevocable outcome of the thousand-fold rivers of time and chance: to merge, for better or for worse."

I swallowed. "Your words are wise, too wise for my unworthy ears."

"Do not fear. The Sages will guide you. Now it is time for you to leave. Another will guide you further. I give you the Fire Medallion, that its power may join with yours."

From above there descended the Fire Medallion, radiant, ruby, a pendant in midair that spun and shimmered and merged with my being. Then we began to lift off again, Zelda and I, as the world became white haze. I heard faintly from below the voice of the Goron sage:

"Seek the Sages and unite time!"

And then we were back, back in reality and in the normal world. We stood once more at the blasted remains of the Gerudo camp, where only minutes ago we fought our frightful battle. I noticed that Zelda and I were healed from the fight. Our wounds were closed and the grime of combat cleansed; only the state of our clothes bore witness to the struggle. The wind was soft and no sound stirred in the smoldering ghost town.

Zelda was about to speak, but then her eyes went wide, and I looked frantically around. Before us, calm, was the white form of Sheik. His words were as mystical as ever.

"Time's flow continues down the path you have made," he spoke, moving towards us with silent steps. Zelda stood in mute amazement. Sheik went on, "You have made your first steps. The Sage of Fire has been restored to his full capacity, and now you must journey further to awaken the next Sage."

Zelda could barely stammer out in a near whisper, "Who are you?" She drew closer to me; I had never seen her in such a state of shocked fear.

"I am Sheik of the Sheikah. I guided Link in another time, and I guide him now."

"No...I was Sheik. I was he...with my magic I made myself so..." Zelda tried to collect herself.

"You were indeed. But it matters not who dons the visage of whom---the important thing is that Sheik was there to help the Hero. Now I must give you some information."

I stood at attention. Sheik, his amber eye visible from below his turban, spoke. "You may wonder what has become of the Triforce. Because Ganondorf did not follow you into the Sacred Realm and thus take the Triforce, splitting it and giving you and Zelda your destined pieces, its power has not been with you." Sheik gestured to my missing eye. "That would never have happened had you still possessed the full power of the Triforce of Courage."

"Then...what hope can I have?"

"Do not despair. In this time, indeed, the Triforce of Courage is not with you, nor is the Triforce of Power with Verletz and Wisdom with Zelda. The Triforce remains, safe, beyond the Door of Time in the Sacred Realm."

"But when Zelda and I came to the future, the Door was open...we did not enter the Sacred Realm."

"The Door of Time may have been open to you as it appeared to your waking eyes, but it is still closed as far as the Triforce and the Sacred Realm goes. Only by a great ritual, by a gathering of powers, can the Door be opened to the Sacred Realm proper. When you first entered the Sacred Realm, and Ganondorf followed and claimed the Triforce of Power, you opened the true Door to the Sacred Realm by uniting the Spiritual Stones. This time, because the Stones have already been used as the key, there is a different way that must be used to open the Door of Time, to enter the Sacred Realm and reveal the Triforce. This you must do, but the specifics will be made known to you in time."

"We have to open the true Door to the Sacred Realm? We must claim the Triforce?" I asked, remembering the suffering that arose when I opened the Door of Time and allowed Ganondorf to enter and claim the Triforce of Power.

"You must, if you wish for good to triumph over evil and save Hyrule from a fate worse than Ganondorf's conquest."

"Very well. If we must open the Door and claim the Triforces, how should we proceed?"

"Again, all will be revealed. For now, you must seek the Sages."

Zelda, managing to overcome her fear, asked, "Sheik, can you tell me how I fired a Light Arrow? I hadn't been able to use any of my magic since we defeated Ganondorf."

"Indeed, Princess. Magic does not come upon you like a hawk diving out of the sky. You will regain your magic gradually. When you are in great peril, as you were when you fought Volvagia, you will find that you can draw on an inner source of power and summon your magic. You are, after all, the Seventh Sage."

Zelda nodded weakly.

"Once you have summoned a power from the other time, you can draw upon it as you will, thought obviously not more often than your spirit can handle. As the timelines merge, the power you possess in the first will come to you in the second. At the end, when all is one, you will be in full possession of the power you held."

"I...I think I understand," I stammered. "But if we do not possess the Triforces...why does Verletz seek us?"

Sheik paused. "Just as you and Zelda know that Verletz is the rebirth of Ganondorf, so does Verletz know that Link and Zelda once bore the Triforces, though only in a dim, vestigial way. Verletz, too, will gain his powers gradually back. When the end comes, he and Ganondorf will be one and the same. As time passes he will become more and more aware of the alternate timeline, and how important you and Zelda are to it. He seeks you not because you possess the Triforce now, but because you will. He cannot kill you, for that would stop the Triforce's re-emergence into the world and throw the role of the Hero and the Princess onto two unknown people. He wants you alive, until the timelines merge: then he will use the combined might of Ganondorf, King of Gerudos, and Verletz, Archon of Din, to claim the pieces for himself."

"I see."

"Link..." Sheik turned to me. "Zelda is not the only one who will regain the powers she possessed in the other time. You do not possess many of the things you did when you journeyed the first time, such as the Megaton Hammer and the Ocarina of Time. Some of these things will come to you in due time, but some I can help you regain. One power you possessed in ages past was the Fire of Din, correct?"

"Yes..."

"Then from that world to this I give it to you." Sheik withdrew a small crystal, clear as glass, but within a tiny gem of pulsing red, that glowed with inner heat.

"Din's Fire!" Sheik handed me the gem and I held it astonished, feeling its warmth and power in my hands.

"Use it well. It is the first of your gifts that has made the leap from timeline to timeline."

"One thing I don't understand," Zelda asked tentatively. "I fainted. I would have died, if Link hadn't saved me. But I had a vision...it was of Volvagia fighting Gorons and Gerudo. It was somewhat like what happened, in broad strokes...Why did I have that vision?"

"Such is the nature of the Princess. Did you not dream of the world covered in dark clouds, pierced by a light that formed the Hero of Time, when you were young and first met Link in the garden?"

"Yes...I suppose..."

"You are blessed by fate with visions of the future, just as Link is given glimpses of the other timeline as it plays out across the bank of the river. More I cannot say. Now you must travel to find the next Sage. Kakariko Village below us is besieged by the Gerudo. Its walls are too stout to be breached, but its people starve. Soon it will surrender and the Gerudo will rule. You must help them, Link and Zelda, and in doing so you will surely awaken a Sage." Sheik began to back away, hand raised, and as I was aware, about to disappear.

"Wait...!" But it was too late. A flash of light blinded me and the mysterious man was gone. The ruins of the camp were once again silent.

Zelda huddled closer to me. "Link...it's all so confusing..."

"I know." I took her and led her out of the camp, down the slopes of Death Mountain. Below us, I was beginning to see the rooftops of Kakariko Village.

"I am Princess Zelda, the Seventh Sage...and yet I'm just as confused as you are. Nothing seems to make sense..."

"Don't worry. We have our mission."

"But...you don't have the Triforce of Courage, and apparently you won't for a while. What if you lose your other eye? If you lose your legs or an arm? What if you die?"

I took her firmly with my hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "I faced injury and death when I first journeyed to save the world. Would I shirk from my duty this time?"

"But before, you had the protection of the Triforce. Now...you'll be constantly reminded how vulnerable you are."

"All men are vulnerable. I will not fail." I was starting to get angry, not really at Zelda, but at the world and at fate.

"I...I just couldn't live if anything happened to you..." Zelda turned her face away from me, pained. I slackened my grip, my anger instantly gone at the sight of Zelda's pain.

"I'm sorry," she wavered. "Let's move on from here. Sheik told us to go to Kakariko, and we'd find a Sage. He said it was under siege. That must mean that the Gerudo who ran from Volvagia were heading for the Gerudo who were besieging, so...hopefully, we shouldn't encounter any of them as we go."

Zelda and I began to move carefully out of the camp, away from the bare rock towards the sparse pine trees on the foothills of Death Mountain.

"Sure, but we should stay hidden." We walked a few minutes in silence.

"How are we going to get into the city? Presumably, no one can get in or out, or this siege wouldn't be happening."

"I don't know, Zelda. Circumstances of destiny...we'll find a way."

As the terrain changed from rocky rubble to sparse pines, Zelda and I walked at a leisurely pace, talking a bit about what we'd experienced, passing the time.

"You can use Light Arrows now, it seems. And Sheik said you would regain your other powers."

"I know."

"I don't claim to understand magic, Zelda. What is it like?"

"I'm not really what you'd call a magician. When I became Sheik, I used magic that I was only dimly aware of, that I had really only practiced and theorized about. Hyrule has many great colleges of wizardry, and I know that many of the nobles of the court train themselves in the craft. But I did not...I think it must have come with the territory."

"Of you being a Sage? The most important one, at that?"

"You could say that...yeah. When I was a child, I didn't know magic, but when I was a Sage, when I was Sheik...well, you saw what I could do. I transformed into a man, into Sheik, and all of Sheik's powers were my doing...at least that's what I thought." Zelda already looked troubled thinking about Sheik, and how this alien identity had forced itself into her without her even knowing.

"And...?" I tried to get her mind off it.

"Well, you remember. When we were escaping from the castle...I healed your wounds, didn't I? With my magic, I helped you recover from battle."

"Yes, I remember. You also opened gates that seemed impenetrable."

"Okay, so that's not so impressive." Zelda smiled, and I was thankful. I hadn't seen her smile for a long time. "But...when you were fighting Ganon, and I saw him stumble when you struck him with the Master Sword...all of a sudden I knew what I was doing. I just put forth my hands, and..."

"I remember." My mind went back to the final battle with Ganon, the monster lurking in Ganondorf's skin. I remember seeing his pig-like, bestial head fall to the ground, and a ray of golden light striking him and blinding him, and searing his impure flesh.

"Somehow, I was just...able. Able to bind Ganon and paralyze him with holy energy, able to call on the Sages to banish him to the Sacred Realm. The magic didn't come from a book or from long hours of study of arcane theory. It was just there."

"Like magic." I flashed a grin. Zelda gave a "that's terrible" look. "So...can you heal me now? I'm not hurt, but...there aren't any gates for you to open around here."

Zelda brushed off the latter part of my comment. "I don't know...I don't think so. Sheik said I would get a power back when the need was dire...when I had to call on all my reserves of strength. But then I could use it whenever I wanted to."

"Ah." I was content to leave it at that, but Zelda went on, bringing up herself what I didn't want to say aloud, for fear of upsetting her:

"I wonder why I wasn't able to heal you when you lost your eye. If that wasn't a dire situation, I don't know what is."

"I don't expect miracles from you, Zelda. Your magic cured me of wounds that were minor in comparison, stuff like cuts and bruises and just the exhaustion of fighting. I never was hurt that seriously. Granted, you only healed me during a brief interval, as we fled the castle, so maybe you could cure much more serious hurts."

"We can speculate, but only time will tell."

"I hope it won't have to. Keep your eyes out for Gerudo. We're getting near to Kakariko." I was becoming more and more aware of the crunch of our boots on the forest floor. However, the clothes we were wearing were, as I described, seemingly designed to be used in the forest when stealth was paramount. The dark shades of purple and gray, combined with the shadows of the trees, was potent camouflage. I doubted anyone would see us before we saw them.

An hour or so passed. "Zelda...do you think anyone will recognize us?"

"I don't know, Link. Should we change our clothes, maybe?"

"Into what? We don't have any other clothes."

"Well...I guess not. We really ought to, though."

"Yeah. Say, how did you transform into Sheik?"

"Magic. But I don't have it now."

"Maybe you'll get it back."

"Maybe..." Zelda stopped walking, and thus I stopped as well, and she drew the hood back from my face. "Maybe we won't need new clothes. You look totally different than you did the last time any Gerudo would have seen you."

"You mean, when we were captured? When we woke up in that room, and Darunia came...I look different? How so?"

"The...the eye, for one thing. And you have a scar from that...that one hit you took." Recalling these things was clearly unpleasant for her.

I put a hand to my face, and felt the scar from the battle against the Gerudo, when I was hit in the face with a sword. I could almost feel the blood dripping from it. It was a long, crescent scar running across the right side of my face from near my temple all the way down to my cheek, skipping over the hollow of my intact eye. Since it was on my face, I never really noticed it very much, but it was there.

"Plus," said Zelda, forcedly upbeat, "you haven't had your hair cut in about a month. It's getting kind of long."

"True. I guess I should keep it that way."

"We should probably get out of these clothes, though. They're full of holes. We want to look inconspicuous, not like we've just fought a monster."

"Right." We stopped and stripped off the outer parts of our clothes. The outfits we were mysteriously wearing when we woke up as Gerudo captives were unlike any I'd seen before in Hyrule. There was a sort of robe or tunic, belted at the waist, and a voluminous cloak which covered one's eyes. Both these things were in a color and pattern that imitated the deep forest. Dark greens, browns, and purples, blended together to imitate foliage and shadows. Now, after much use and fierce battle, they were in tatters.

With the outer parts removed, I was dressed in a pair of brown britches and a loose white undershirt. Zelda wore a short skirt and blouse. Neither of us looked particularly suspicious, except for the fact that we were both armed, I with the Master Sword and she with the Fairy Bow, and the pair of swords Darunia had given her. She had trained some with me during my recovery with those swords, and she was improving her technique.

Presently, we caught several sounds coming from up ahead. The pine forest was giving way to the foothills of Death Mountain on which Kakariko was built. It was probably due to the terrain that Kakariko was able to resist siege. No large siege engines could be put into position because the terrain around Kakariko was so hilly. Catapults, ballistae, trebuchets, all require a large, flat area to operate without rolling away or becoming unbalanced and falling over. Because of this, the siege was limited to simply surrounding the city with troops and letting none enter or leave. Such was what Darunia had explained to me.

As we emerged from the forest, I saw what looked like a sea of grass, with rolling waves, covered with dots that looked like corks bobbing in the ocean. The hills around Kakariko were covered with Gerudo tents. Masses of troops moved around, moving supplies and weapons, while off towards Hyrule Field, I could see wagonloads of new troops and equipment being trundled by horse-carts towards the siege. In the middle, defiant, stood Kakariko, its huge palisades, reinforced with iron bands, still standing, and its gate shut tight. Along the battlements I could see tiny shapes moving about. I had no idea what to expect inside Kakariko, but Darunia had told me their food supply was running out.

"Wow," Zelda addressed me. "How are we going to get inside? And did I not ask you this earlier, when we could have formed a plan?"

"I don't know, Zelda. I'm sorry. We obviously can't just walk through this mess and knock on the door."

"Right, you said no one was being let in or out."

"Maybe..." Suddenly I heard a creaking that indicated a cart rolling down the path near us. "Hide!"

Zelda and I ducked back towards the pines, crouching amidst the boughs. A small cart, being pulled along by two chatting Gerudo soldiers, emerged from the crest of a small hillock. We stopped breathing.

The two soldiers drew to within ten paces of us, crouching in the cover of the boughs trying to be invisible. I heard the clatter of the wagon they drew in the worn dirt path. As they began to retreat from us, I felt Zelda soundlessly nocking an arrow in the Fairy Bow. I turned to her and wordlessly expressed puzzlement. The look on her face was scared. I put a hand to her shoulder, to calm her.

But no sooner had I lain my hand on her did she give a short groan and crumple to the ground, falling onto the grass from out of the shade of the tree. The two Gerudo, about ten yards off, began to turn.

Terror and confusion coursed through me, and soon the pounding tension of imminent combat was invading my conscious. I had only one question on my mind: _why? _Why did Zelda pass out?

The Gerudo saw Zelda, still breathing but unconscious, at my feet. They shouted something and began to draw swords, but I didn't really hear them. My mind, inundated with data, streamlined all its processes to do only one thing, and that was to protect the comatose woman before me.

I stepped over Zelda protectively, and drew the Master Sword, slinging my shield into place as well. The two Gerudo, their wagon slumped motionless in the road, advanced with cautious haste. They were poorly armored and wielded only a single worn Gerudo scimitar each, but my previous encounters with these female warriors told me they were not to be misjudged. Navi instinctively shot out towards the two women, drawing confused glances.

When they got to within striking distance the one on my left opened with a sweeping cut at chest height, which I parried with my blade. Moments later, the other attacked from the right, a thrusting motion I blocked with my shield. As I heard the clatter of the sword sliding along the shield, I pushed bodily into the direction of the warrior, forcing the sword off my shield and away from her body. As I did this I sent the Master Sword in a crosswise arc toward her partner, who deflected my attempt with her blade. Her sword shot toward the ground from the impact. At nearly the same time I hooked my foot around the foot of the Gerudo to my right and gave a sweeping kick. The Gerudo toppled over with a surprised yelp.

The one who still stood had brought her blade up again, and was making ready to attack once more. I struck first, with a daring thrust that brought me close to her blade. The Master Sword slid along her unprotected upper arm, drawing blood. She grunted in pain as I withdrew.

The prone Gerudo struggled to swing at my calves, but I managed to dodge her swipe. In an acrobatic dodge I didn't think I had the grace to accomplish, I pivoted on my back foot, spun completely around, and brought the Master Sword down onto her. She cried out as the blade bit into her flesh, opening a gash across her belly. Blood splattered across the green grass.

The Gerudo who still stood desperately swung her sword once more, but I could tell she was losing her edge. I parried easily with my shield, and my blade came down into her shoulder. This time it was no glancing blow; the Master Sword's razor edge sliced tendon and bone, dotting me with blood spray. The Gerudo gave a strangled gasp as the blade left her flesh and staggered back, blood flowing over her torso, and finally collapsed.

Turning to the wounded Gerudo on the ground, I saw her, trailing crimson, feebly crawling away. I quickly caught up with her and, with a swift kick to the head, I knocked her out cold, leaving her to bleed out her life.

The fight was over for the moment. The tingling furor of battle began to fade from me, and I looked on the carnage I had wrought---spilling the blood of these Gerudo was still a rather unsettling experience, even after my experience with full-scale war. Then I returned to Zelda's side.

"Zelda! Zelda! Can you hear me?"

She lay quivering on the green, her face scrunched and fists clenched, as though she suffered from a fevered nightmare. I could only shake her unresponsive body. Sickening helplessness washed over me.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, it ended: Zelda's breathing became regular once more, her tension left and she slowly came awake again. "Uhhn..."

"Zelda!"

"Link...I...I had another..."

"Are you all right? Can you..." Zelda struggled to a sitting position, then with my help stood once more.

"I had another vision, Link. I'm kind of dazed, but I think I'm okay..."

"What..." But I was cut off. A shout from behind me turned me instantly around.

I was startled. A group of about ten Gerudo had arrived from beyond the crest of the hill, and these looked to be genuine soldiers, wearing leather armor, bearing dented metal shields, and their cutlasses were sharp and polished.

"Stand down, murderer!" yelled one.

I said nothing, keeping my face stern. Zelda looked determined, but I could tell fear was beginning to creep into her, not without cause. Half the group drew forth the distinctive Gerudo shortbows, leveling them horizontally at me.

Arrows. I hate arrows.

A tense moment of silence followed. Zelda and I cautiously edged toward the crescent formation, as they in turn pulled tighter around us. Zelda's hands were shaking on the bow, and she began to slowly raise it. Fear was clouding her judgment; a shot now would be suicidal. I put my sword in front of her bow to stop her and looked her in the eye.

"Stay calm."

I sheathed my sword, which the Gerudo took as a sign of submission. They began to move in, weapons still drawn but no longer held menacingly. Zelda looked at me questioningly. What she didn't know was that as I was sheathing my sword, I was also withdrawing a small eight-sided gem. Palming it to avoid detection, I moved my hand behind Zelda and pressed the gem into her back. The shape and the soft warmth on her skin allowed her to recognize my plan.

The Gerudo were now surrounding us. Even though I was not being outwardly aggressive, they hesitated. I waited, beads of sweat appearing on my brow in spite of the cool air that was thick with tension.

Finally one of them got close enough to me to lay hands on me. She grabbed my arm, and, seeing this, the others moved in to subdue us. It was time to act.

I withdrew the gem, holding it tightly. The warmth grew and red light began to peek from between my clenched fingers. The Gerudo drew back, angry and confused. It bought me all the time I needed.

I focused my spirit into the gem, and I felt its inner fire. The endless burning will of Din entered my consciousness, draining me of my magical stamina to fuel its undying wrath. I held the gem forth, my hand ablaze with glowing heat, and I could not contain a primal scream tearing from my lips. The gem exploded.

There was a flash that silhouetted the Gerudo before me, posed as grotesque shadows in a blinding storm of fire, desperately shielding themselves. The shadows began to disintegrate. All around me was a raging tempest of burning death, radiating outward in a sphere, engulfing and consuming. And then it was over, and Zelda and I were standing in a circle of scorched earth ringed by a welter of charred, mangled bodies, metal fused to bone and flesh reduced to crumbling ash.

* * *

Sixteen thousand dead.

Of course that was not accurate, the battle was scarcely three hours old and no accurate list of the dead and missing could be assembled. But that was the estimate, and if it was inaccurate, it would most likely be too low.

Nabooru stood anxiously outside the tent of the Archon of Din, outwardly firm and resolute as always, inwardly, bitter at the futility of war.

Sixteen thousand. The village where Nabooru grew up, in the sands of Gerudo Valley, had sixteen hundred people. Her village times ten had been slain: pilloried by the arrows of the Sylvain Liberators, crushed by the brutal fists of the Gorons, incinerated by a giant monster, trampled underfoot in the mad, disorganized flight, or succumbing to wounds that would have been minor had not all hell broken lose.

It is nothing, she forced herself to think. Sixteen thousand die each month, each week, no doubt. This is war. There is war on all fronts. Gerudo die daily in the plains of Hyrule Field, the unworthy ground becoming saturated with blood. Hylians die too, by the thousands. They die and bleed as freely as we. Sixteen thousand. It is nothing.

Just be thankful you still draw breath, she told herself. Malon, too. The Gerudo sergeant was growing fond of her young ward. Malon had survived everything that the campaign had thrown at them, unlike the rest of her squad. She took an arrow to the lung and lived. Her scars would be numerous and proud. If she lived. Nabooru had even given Malon one of her officer's _kukri_, for Malon to carry proudly should Nabooru fall in battle.

The gears of war kept turning, she thought sadly. Malon would more than likely die before she saw her nineteenth summer. Malon's body would lie unburied in the stinking battlefield ruins. For that matter, she herself would likely die someday soon. Such is war. But, she concluded, the glory of the Gerudo would forever shine, long after she and all she knew were turned to dust. To die in the service of Verletz, to die knowing that you have made his vision real, that was worth any sacrifice. Besides, she had killed more than a few Hylians. The benefit had already outweighed the cost.

"The Archon wishes to speak with you now," said a voice. She was snapped back to reality. The tent flap opened and she entered. The awe she had first felt from meeting her leader face to face had been sheared away by the dire circumstances. Now he was just another person with a sharp tactical mind who was worth listening to. Nonetheless, his amazing power and prestige still made her feel awed. The Gerudo attendant who had spoken to her added, "He is yet weak from his mighty magic. But he will recover in time."

"Greetings," he said. Verletz was seated at a low table, brow furrowed, looking over maps and battle plans. He looked tired, yet eager. "Please, sit." He did not look up from the map of Kakariko he was studying intently.

Nabooru seated herself across from the Archon of Din. "It is an honor, my lord."

"One you are much entitled to. Your valor in the field has not gone unnoticed."

"My strength is Din's, my lord, and my glory hers."

"Your strength may be Din's, but your courage is yours alone. You are worthy, Nabooru, there is a spark in you that yearns to be alive. Something special. I cannot say precisely what, but you are touched."

"You do me honor beyond my station, sir, I..."

"Do not seek to diminish yourself. I will be blunt: your well-being is vital to the war effort."

This truly took Nabooru by surprise. "I? What...I am not..."

"You are more important that you can understand, even more than I myself fully comprehend. But I sense it. Din calls to me. There is a reason that I can't yet grasp, but know this: your death will mean the doom of our glorious campaign."

"I...I know not what to say."

"Then say nothing. Simply know that you are now under my protection, and that you will be given a station commensurate to your importance. You..." Verletz took a long look at Nabooru, who could scarcely control her shock. Verletz's crimson eyes seemed to twinkle, as if from long-forgotten knowledge suddenly resurfacing after a long sleep.

"...the Sage…"

"W..." began Nabooru, when Verletz was suddenly seized with a grimace. His fist clenched momentarily. "Are you..." Nabooru could barely stammer.

"Wait here, Nabooru. There is a problem I must deal with."

"But my lord, you are still weak..."

"There is a blasphemer among us who is using the fire of Din for his own murderous purposes. I shall deal with it personally."

Nabooru could say nothing. Verletz rose to his feet, confidence and anger counterbalancing his state of exhaustion, and with no further comment teleported in a flash from the tent.

* * *

Zelda and I stood in front of the ring of charred bodies, the gem still clutched in my hand. We were stilled and quiet, partly from disgust at the smoking bodies that reeked of burnt flesh, and partly with contemplation on our next move. That, fate would decide.

I took a few steps back from the spot where I stood, and just as I did, the spot erupted in a brief burst of fire. It was much like a whirlwind or tornado, except it was blazing flame, and it lasted only a brief instant. Suddenly before me was a white-robed form, no longer wearing a Gerudo turban but allowing his long hair to flow across his shoulders and his angular, enchanting features to show. His eyes were a deep burning crimson after the fashion of the Gerudo, penetrating and powerful. He bore no weapon, but his slender fingers seemed to crackle with dread energy.

"You..." I gasped out.

"You recognize me," the man said calmly. "Strange. Perhaps the connection between us is as strong to you as it is to myself."

"You're Verletz," said Zelda tensely.

"Correct." He looked straight at the gem in my fist. "That's an interesting trick, hijacking the magic of my goddess."

"This is Din's Fire," I said angrily, "bestowed on me by the Great Fairy of Power. It is you who are the usurper."

Verletz laughed curtly. "If my power is power usurped, it matters little now. Stand down and bow to me, or you will see firsthand the power I wield, hijacked or not."

I exchanged a glance with Zelda. I saw in her eyes not a trace of fear or submission. We were of a single mind. "Never."

"So be it." With a sharp gesture that gusted his cloak around his legs, Verletz brough one hand to his breast and held it in a clenched fist. Instantly it began to crackle with lightning and flame, pulsing like a terrible sun. He then extended his hand and unleashed a bolt of flame in our direction.

Zelda and I both dove in opposite directions as the tendril of fire struck explosively into the ground. I rolled, shield raised. Verletz brought his other hand up and struck again with gouts of burning air, twisting like sentient serpents towards me. Dodging desperately I avoided the blasts, running crouched low with my sword trailing towards the white figure.

As I drew close to Verletz, I swung with the Master Sword. Smiling, the Gerudo simply dodged back and to the side, easily avoiding the stroke. Recovering, I turned to engage him again, only to see that his hands were pointed to me, palms forward. He leapt backwards into the air, and at the same time fired another blast of searing heat. I only barely managed to stumble backwards away from the rays of energy that followed my every move, at my heels. Verletz now floated in the air, held aloft by whatever magic had allowed Ganondorf to do the same.

Seeing that his guard was down, Zelda drew shaft to ear and loosed an arrow towards his back. He turned, noticing her, and crossed his hands in front of him. As he did this, a shimmering curtain or shell of flame erupted from around him with a blast of air, quivering and dancing with intense heat. The arrow that Zelda fired sizzled, blackened, and finally disintegrated as it struck the glowing wall of heat. Desperate, Zelda fired again, and her second arrow met the same fate as her first.

Verletz then turned his attention to me. I saw sweat beading his brow, and saw his chest rising and falling with deep breath. His suave confidence fading into anger, he drew back his hand and flung from nowhere a burning orb of flame in my direction. I scarcely had time to dodge it than he flung a second from his other hand.

I struck at his floating body again, but his airborne mobility was amazing. He dodged the strike effortlessly. Enraged, I swung again and again, but each time I was no match for his speed. Finally, growing tired of the dance, he swung with his open hand in an arc across me towards the ground, and a sharp, crackling arc of fire burst forth, striking the ground in front of me with explosive force. This time I wasn't quick enough. The fiery blast engulfed me, flinging me backward to land with a painful thud several feet away.

Zelda, fearful, drew another arrow and, closing her eyes in prayer momentarily, fired again. This time, as she shot, the tip flared into glorious golden light, streaking through space towards Verletz. As it reached the fiery shield it pierced it like a rock splashing into lava, and struck Verletz in the shoulder. He let out a gasping scream and stumbled in mid-air, turning angrily to Zelda. Furiously he fired blasts of flame at her, scorching the ground around her, his wild anger skewing his accuracy. Zelda stumbled and fell. Seeing an opening I lurched from the ground, ran towards Zelda, and as I passed Verletz I struck with my sword, wielding it like a stabbing spear into his torso.

Verletz barely managed to get out of the way in time, and the blade sliced his robe and inflicted a slight wound. I reached Zelda and stood defensively in front of her as she regained her feet.

Verletz was dripping with sweat, chest heaving, clearly exhausted, with rage in his eyes. "This foolish game is over!" he yelled, twisted with hate. "Now you die!"

He hauled back, gathering his strength, and fired a rumbling, roaring blast of flame directly into the ground in front of him. The very earth exploded with fire, chunks of molten earth flying into the air, as an enormous fiery explosion erupted from him.

Time seemed to slow. The raging wall of fire and earth rushed towards us. There was no escape; the fiery tempest was like an exploding orb expanding in all directions toward us. I could only shield myself and Zelda, throwing my arms over my face and giving a strangled cry.

What I could barely detect was the presence of a third person, behind us. From nowhere, out of the shadows, came a figure, appearing in the split second between the explosion and when it would kill us. I felt a hand on my back. And then I felt as if I were being pulled backwards, into a doorway to nothingness. Blackness appeared on the edges of my vision. I felt as if I was falling backward into shadow, and then my vision vanished, the eruption of fire gone.


	14. Chapter 14

The battlefield was still smoldering. Verletz stood, his head bobbing slowly up and down in time with his labored breath. He seemed to be listening to nothing. He extended his magical senses outward, drinking in the power his legions provided him, searching their magical auras...nothing. 

He was still standing in contemplative silence when Nabooru, with a small retinue of seasoned guards, arrived, breathless.

"My Lord, what..." Nabooru's words trailed off when she saw Verletz standing, unresponsive. He was searching.

"They are gone," he said without turning to face Nabooru.

"You mean the defilers?"

"Yes, yes. Them. They escaped with the help of that blasted Shiekah." Anger flashed across his face as he turned slowly.

"Who? What?"

Verletz looked puzzled for a moment, then it passed. "I'm sorry. I speak of matters you could not comprehend."

Nabooru furrowed her brow quizzically and said, "But they...escaped?"

"It can only be so. I still sense their blasphemous presence. They are now within the city."

Nabooru's puzzlement quickly turned to anger. "Cowards!"

"Fear not. Soon they will have nowhere to hide. Disseminate the word to your inferiors. Let the cry ring from every mouth. Tomorrow at dusk we begin the destruction of Kakariko."

Nabooru was stunned for a moment. For months she had heard only her overseers, the generals of the Gerudo, telling her that the city was impregnable, that no assault on the scale necessary to breech its walls would be possible in the hilly terrain, and that only by attrition could the day be won.

"Come. We will discuss the coming battle."

"Yes, Lord. But...if I may express..."

"Yes, you may. Do not hesitate to speak your mind in my presence."

"I have heard that Kakariko is unbreakable. They have told us..."

"No fortress is impenetrable, when Din's will is felt on the mortal world."

"It is very soon after the...events...on Death Mountain. I fear we do not have the will to push through the attack. The troops are weary and afraid."

"That is precisely why we must achieve victory, and decisive victory, Nabooru. We must put the fear of the Gerudo back into the hearts of the Hylrulians. The troops are weary, but the burning of Kakariko will bring their strength back."

"It is as you say, Lord. I know many soldiers are angry and exhausted by this siege. They long for combat. But the walls..."

"Walls? What are walls, when the very earth obeys my command? I, who shake mountains?"

"But you are still weak, Lord, you must recover before you can perform such epic feats again."

"It will be sufficient. I will find a way, else the Gerudo host will be for naught. Blood will run in the streets, this I swear!"

Verletz began to take on the strange, alien aspect that Nabooru had observed in him several times before. His eyes seemed darker, his face shrouded in shadow.

"And they...they will be mine..."

* * *

For a dizzying moment I felt like I was falling into a well, with a speck of reality rapidly receding into a dark abyss. Then, as if I had hit the bottom and a light was turned on, I stumbled backwards on solid ground. I felt hands propping me up, keeping me from falling on my back. I had to shake my head a few times to try and clear my sight. I felt somewhat sick from the experience. 

We had stumbled out of the black tunnel and were now in a shadowy corner of a nondescript room.

"Are you all right?" It was a woman's voice. Once I'd regained my composure I turned to see who was addressing us. "And what did you do to get Verletz that mad at you?"

The woman was much older than I would have expected. Her features were sharp and weathered, yet matronly and kind. Her dress was unmistakable; there were only two people I had ever known to wear such garb. One of these people was Sheik. The other...

"Impa?"

"You've heard of me?"

"Of course I have, you..." Zelda interjected, but stopped herself. As usual, we didn't want to reveal too much of our real identities too early.

"Well, that's no good. In this line of work, being known about gets you killed."

"Line of work? What..."

"You don't know?" Impa looked us over. "Really?"

"We know your name."

"All right...I suppose I can tell you. If you're spies, you're not getting back to your employers anyway. I'm a blockade runner. I bring supplies and information into Kakariko."

"And you do this...by moving in the shadows? You never told me you could do that..." Zelda said.

"I didn't tell..." Impa looked intensely at Zelda. "I've never met you...have I?"

"No, you haven't," I said quickly.

"I, uh...I misspoke," Zelda said, blushing.

"You seem familiar, miss...but, enough. It's time you tell me some things about yourselves."

"Like you said, being known about gets you killed. I'd rather not tell you anything more than necessary."

Impa laughed shortly. "All right. I know enough about you as is."

"Such as?"

"A man and a woman wearing Liberator robes, and a Goron, defeated the dragon that routed the Gerudo, then started down the mountain. You're wearing Liberator tunics. We're down the mountain. It's not hard."

"You're right."

"Well, then, congratulations. From the looks of it I would have thought no mortal could have challenged it."

"You saved us."

"I did, and I'm starting to wonder why. Just who are you? I sense you're on the right side of this war, but anyone skilled enough to take down that dragon thing...we should already know about."

"We?"

"The Army of Hyrule. Military intelligence. We monitor our friends as closely as our enemies, if not closer."

"That's pleasant," Zelda remarked.

"That's war, sweetheart." Impa gestured for us to follow her. "With your enemies you always know where you stand. Spies won't even follow a predictably hostile path."

She lead us out of the shadows down a close, poorly-lit hallway into what looked like a place of residence. The one large room contained a stove in the corner as well as a bed and table. Impa went to the window, looked out, and close the shutter before I could get a chance to see anything. She stopped at the heavy door and listened, then checked the lock.

"You're awfully cautious, for someone living in a locked-down city," I observed.

"As I have demonstrated to you, the city is far from locked down."

"People are going in and out?"

"Well, it's mostly blockade runners like me. There are probably fifteen or so of us. They call me the leader, because I'm the best at it."

"You're a Sheikah. They are good at these kind of things, I know."

Impa stopped in her tracks, looking me square in the eye. "How do you know?"

"We know a lot more that you might think, Impa. But it's not important."

"It is important. As far as I know I'm one of the last Sheikah in Hyrule. No one knows about us. I was the last of a great line, the Shiekah guardians of the Royal Family. I...I was the one who was responsible for keeping little Princess Zelda safe. I used to be. Now..." She shut her eyes in great sadness, and I could see Zelda was feeling much of the same sadness as the woman who had been like a mother to her.

"Where are we?" I changed the subject.

"We're in my house. Is that a problem?"

I smiled, thinking back to a time when I had visited this house when Kakariko was at peace. It was hard to believe it was ever at peace.

"No, is it safe?" I asked. Impa just smiled.

"Do you two have business in Kakariko?"

"Yeah. You could say that."

"Well...just be careful if you're going out. Until then, you should stay here."

"Zelda, I'm going to rest for a while." Finally feeling safe, I took my shield and scabbard off and set them aside.

"I'm going to go out and see what's what."

"I'll come..."

"No. Don't worry, I'll be all right."

* * *

Zelda stepped out of Impa's small house and looked for the first time on Kakariko. She had been here only a few times, when she was disguised as Sheik. She realized the irony; to have seen a city only as it was during a time of war, first in the war with Ganondorf, as the new seat of Hylian power after the destruction of Hyrule Market, and now, in the new war. She had never been here as a royal child, when time was as it should be and the city was peaceful. She had been a busy young girl. 

Immediately she was aware of the beauty and splendor of this, one of Hyrule's greatest cities, and at the same time, how that beauty that had once been so great had been ruined almost beyond recognition. The effects of the siege were everywhere, and when not immediately obvious, could be felt by the cloud of fear and despair that seemed thick in the empty streets. Houses were shuttered and dark, ill-maintained because of the dearth of supplies. The red tiles of the roofs were mangy with broken and missing tiles. Broken crockery, glass and wooden wreckage choked the streets. Chimneys were shattered, ceilings caved in. In some places, arrows still stuck out of the corpses of perforated buildings like quills, and great chunks of rubble lay where they fell. The great windmill of Kakariko was in shambles, its cloth arms in tatters and its great spire crumbling. Yet it still stood.

Zelda's heart sank at such desolation, but her hope was renewed. It had persisted. Somewhere in this dying city were people, desperate and strong people, who had borne arms against the Gerudo for this long. But even as she marveled at these people, her people, she knew they couldn't hold out much longer.

Something of her old memories, memories of the time before the crisis began anew and Link had taken her with him on this strange and dangerous new life, resurfaced. Regal pride surged in her, and anger, anger at the man who would so thoroughly ruin her kingdom, her cities, her subjects. How? How could things have gotten this bad? What of the might of her father's armies? How could her father have let Verletz, Ganon incarnate, send his legions across his kingdom? Her father...

Sickness washed over her. Her family. Her home, the castle where she was once a little girl picking flowers in the verdant courtyard, looking at the sky and the water and waiting for the boy from her dreams, the one that would fulfill the prophecy and send the darkness away. She wondered, with such sadness, what course her life would have taken had Link never responded to her desperate letter, or if she had never written it.

But then, she looked back over her shoulder through the open door, and she saw Link gratefully sitting comfortably for what must be the first time in days, his only remaining eye closed in quiet relaxation, his fairy Navi softly alighting near him as if she too needed a rest. Link, who had given so much for her and her nation, Link, who would give everything if it came to that, he knew that this world was worth fighting for. He had given his life in service of a higher calling, and then, when she asked him, he gave it again, without question or hesitation. He had suffered so much. And then, she knew that if she could choose again, she would choose to go with him. It was a burden he did not deserve to bear alone.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a lone speck of movement in the otherwise barren cityscape. Atop the crumbling spire of the windmill, she could swear she saw someone standing, forlorn and contemplative against the gray sky. She could barely make out the person's features at the distance, but something about the figure made her shudder. She took a few tentative steps in that direction and strained her vision.

The person was a man. He stood alone at the rubble-strewn top of the great motionless windmill. In his hands was a golden harp, over which he was bent, meditatively playing, his graceful fingers caressing the strings, making music only he could hear. His clothes were blue and white, on his chest a red lidless eye. His face was covered with a veil. Zelda felt weak.

Sheik stopped playing, and Zelda was certain he looked across the vast space from the top of the windmill directly into her eyes. Then, with unearthly grace, he whirled and leapt off the back of the windmill, disappearing from Zelda's view.

Zelda felt the same confusion and fear that had always been her reaction to the presence of Sheik. But this time the feeling was suppressed by a strange attraction. She found herself moving toward the windmill, down the steps to Impa's home, through desolate thoroughfares and past shuttered windows. She encountered no one, and she began to wonder how many people were left in the town, and where their dwindling few were hiding. But as much as she tried to distract herself, she kept moving, ever faster, until finally she broke into a run toward the windmill, her subdued garments fluttering, a gray ghost in a lifeless borough.

She climbed the broken cobblestone path, past the door that opened into the inside workings of the windmill, and climbed over the broken bricks of a ruined wall up to a higher level, higher up on the hill the windmill was built on. She looked around, and saw nothing, and so went around to the back side of the windmill, the side that faced the graveyard.

She looked around the corner of the mossy stone structure and saw nothing. She began to question her senses. Who or what did she see? She turned around, reeling, to face the city once more, and then he was there.

"You..."

"Greetings, Princess." Sheik stood nonchalantly by the wall, unsettlingly appearing from nowhere, harp in hand. A cool wind began to blow.

"Who are you?"

"I am Sheik. You know who I am."

"No...who are you?" Zelda put a hand to the wall for support.

Although Sheik wore a veil over his mouth, Zelda knew he smiled. "I know you are Zelda. But who are you? What more need I know?"

"I don't understand. I don't know if I ever will."

"Some things cannot be understood, only felt. I am Sheik, and I will guide you: it is so, and it will come to pass."

"What do you want from me?"

"Only that you listen to what I have to say, Princess. Look upon your kingdom." Sheik made a sweeping gesture across Kakariko, which lay sprawled before them. Beyond, over the grim wooden palisades, she could see against the setting sun the countless white tents and burning campfires of the besieging Gerudo.

"It's not my kingdom anymore. It might never be again." Zelda said. She expected to feel sad that this was true, but as she said it, she felt a small tingle of pride in the fact that she was here, fighting to save the lands that fate had denied her dominion over. The grim irony only served to remind her of her purpose.

"It is yours. You are the Princess, after all."

"I was."

"You still are. You will always be the Princess, the Seventh Sage, bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom. It is written in the chronicles of the eons, and nothing can change it save your death."

"What do you mean? Everything can be changed. Link changed the entire world."

"He can change the world, Princess, but he cannot change you. He cannot change himself."

"Speak clearly!" Zelda said in a cold flash of anger. "What are you talking about?"

"You are the Princess. He is the Hero of Time. Ganondorf was the King of Evil, but Link's choices have changed that."

"You said he couldn't change..."

"He didn't change Ganondorf. He killed him. The spirit, the soul, of the King of Evil, left him with his death."

"And...it took up residence in Verletz. Right?" Sheik seemed to smile again.

"See? You understand more than you think, Princess."

"You told me this last time. The roles we are destined to play. You said only death could change it. If I die, does someone else become the Princess? I mean, the Seventh Sage, the Triforce bearer?"

"Of course. Destiny will not be denied by mortal shortcoming."

"Does Verletz...does he know who he is?"

"Gradually, more so every day. Someday he'll be completely merged with Ganondorf, and then he will be more powerful than either man singly. Your fight will be difficult."

"What will he do?"

"What did Ganondorf try to do?"

"He tried to take the whole Triforce for himself. He opened the door to the Sacred Realm..."

"Go on."

"...The Triforce split into the three pieces. He got the Triforce of Power, and I...and Link...we got ours. But...But this time, that never happened. Ganondorf was dead. He never invaded the Sacred Realm. The Triforce was never split. We never got our pieces." She looked with some amazement at her hand, where once the mark of the Triforce of Wisdom had glowed. The realization was more forceful than it had been when Sheik had last spoken, perhaps because her mind was more clear now.

"All is as you say. You, and Link, and Verletz, do not possess the Triforce pieces. No one does. The Triforce waits, serene and primal, in the Sacred Realm. Waiting for you to return to claim it."

"And Verletz...he's realizing this. As he gains more and more of Ganondorf's personality he becomes more aware of who we are and what the Triforce is." Sheik nodded.

"You will bear the Triforce, Princess, as long as you are alive to claim it. This is immutable law. Ganondorf sought you and Link because you bore the Triforce. Verletz seeks you because you will."

"So he does know."

"In a dim way."

"That means...he wants us alive?"

"You fought him. Did you see him reign in his magic? Directing his fire near but not at you? He did not try to kill you until the very end, when his resolve weakened and his anger took over, when the great plan, created with the minds of two great men, almost failed. Had he succeeded, who can say what would have happened?"

"What would have happened if we died? Who would bear the Triforce?"

"That, only destiny can decide. And because Verletz only knows, in a vestigial way, that you and Link will bear the Triforce, he cannot afford to let you out of his grasp, through freedom or through death."

"What do we do about Impa? We must awaken the Sages..."

"Turn around. Look upon the graveyard, fattened by war and devastation." Zelda turned. "It, too, is part of your kingdom. The bones in its graves are your subjects as well, Princess. The Shadow Temple, where are gathered Hyrule's bloody secrets of shades and fear...It is your dominion. You cannot deny it, although your soul may shrink from its darkened depths. It has its place, and it has its Sage."

Zelda felt the cold wind chill her skin as she looked. The graveyard was a horrible shambles. The neat rows of headstones, even the great monuments to the kings of Hyrule, were scattered and ruined. In their place was a terrible smoking pit, an awful mass grave that had replaced proper burial. As Zelda followed with her eyes the thin, ghostly wisps of smoke up towards the sky, she saw the sardonic, gaping maw of the cave that she knew lead to the Shadow Temple, gouged into the jagged cliff face. She tried to say something, but her words died in her throat.

And when she turned to see Sheik, she found that she was alone once more, with the wind chilling her white cheeks, unbound hair beginning to stir in the breeze.

She walked back through the empty streets in a daze, her mind going over and over what Sheik had said, and what she had seen---the horrific toll of war, the dark corners of Hyrule that others would leave unmentioned. "It is your dominion..."

What did all this mean? Her destiny, to bear the Triforce. Her life, so fragile, held the key to salvation. Her death would mean chaos, as Verletz's plans, which he himself couldn't even articulate, would be destroyed. Verletz wouldn't slay her, but...what would he do if he captured her? Zelda shuddered at the thought of once again being in the clutches of the King of Evil. What would he do? Drag her screaming to the stairs of the Temple of Time, and reach into the Sacred Realm and claim the Triforce...and then, when the piece of Wisdom was in her hand, he would slay her before the assembled throng and become all-powerful...these thoughts raced through her mind.

* * *

Zelda stumbled through the door. I was seated on one of Impa's comfortable chairs while she prepared a room for us. She didn't look hurt, or scared...but like she had a lot to think about. 

"What happened? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Nothing happened. I just went outside, and saw the city. It's in shambles." I gestured for her to sit.

"You shouldn't go out. It's not safe," Impa said from another room.

"I've never seen anything like it. This beautiful city...Hyrule's city...my city, your city...and all its people...completely devastated. The graveyard is a smoking pit of bodies. I can't even begin to..." She could no longer continue. Her pain brought pain to me.

"Don't worry, Zelda. Everything will be all right. I don't know how, but we're going to set things right."

She looked at me through eyes on the verge of tears and smiled weakly. "I know, Link. I know."

"Now is when we can rest. We're safe here, and Impa is here. We can just wait for destiny to take its toll."

Her smile broadened. "I'd like that."

* * *

Before the assembled masses---warrior in their chain mail with leather pauldrons and notched scimitars, archers with their short bows and black feathered arrows, cavalry leading their stout desert ponies---Verletz stood, flanked by his generals, to speak. 

"Righteousness," he said, voice booming across the audient thousands, "is not a free commodity. It must be paid for with blood and with hardship. But it is not a commodity that we must hoard for ourselves. Gerudo, I speak to you with the voice of Din, great mother and warrior queen: our cause is a righteous cause. But our foes are lawless, their corrupt civilization fails them. They resort, in desperation, to the use of evil magic and evil forces best left unmolested. The filthy Gorons, in their cowardly anger, unleashed on us one of Din's own children. We tried, with our Goddess' blessing, to control it, but it was wild and enraged. Many here today, I am sure, witnessed the tragedy that the Gorons precipitated. They are Hyrulian, and like all Hyrulians they will go to any length, commit any blasphemy, to save their crumbling way of life. Gerudo, I say to you: We will bring peace to their land!"

The Gerudo army let out a cheer.

"We will rule these lands, and they will know prosperity as they have never known before. The poor, abused peasants of Hyrule will think it foolish that they ever bowed to the whip of their thoughtless masters. We are Gerudo, and each of us is the equal of each other. We rule with fairness and justice, they with cruelty and fear. Ours is the true way!"

"But I say to you again, our mission of justice will not come without cost. We must be willing to pay the cost, any cost, to bring peace to the Gerudo people, to all people. They have forced our hand, and we will make them pay. Tonight, when the Hylian army sleeps, we will finally remove Kakariko from the maps!"

"For too long, this crusty scab of a city has been a drain on our resources. We are children of the sand, we move with the wind and strike like the storm: we do not sit idly for months to destroy our foes. No, tonight we will tear this scab from the land, and the blood that flows forth will be the blood of the unrighteous!"

The Gerudo let out another great cheer as Verletz finished his oration. The Archon waved his hand to the assembled army and retired, speaking with his generals.

"Arrange the division of archers around the city, and assign one infantry to each archer to supply her with arrows. And scatter the Disciples among them. Tell them to hold nothing back. Then, once we have softened them up, we'll scale the walls and take the city."

Verletz took Nabooru aside. "I have a very special job for you, Nabooru, one that places all my trust in your skill. There are two people in that city, two very important people, who must be brought to me alive at all costs. They are a man and a woman dressed in the robes of the Sylvain Liberators. Whatever you do, you must not kill them. Just find them and subdue them."

"I will not fail you, Lord."

"They are skilled fighters and they have escaped me before. You must not let them leave the city. Go and assemble your finest warriors. You will be the first over the walls."

And Nabooru turned and left, aglow with pride, forgetting in her rush that Verletz had lied, that it had been her and not the Gorons that had released Volvagia and visited fiery ruin on the Gerudo army.

* * *

Sleeping that night in a comfortable bed, even a bed in a doomed city surrounded by legions, was a pleasure beyond reckoning. It was far, far removed from luxury by any standard, but compared to the meager cots of the Goron city, I felt I couldn't ask for more. 

The following day, too, was a welcome respite, although Impa kept nervous watch at all times. Our being here was clearly causing her additional worry, and I felt bad for imposing this on her. She also was clearly starting to wonder why we were here in her house, eating her food and compromising her security.

Dusk was falling on our second day in Kakariko when she finally confronted us. "Hospitality is a gift I can't afford to give you. What are you here for?"

"I can't explain," I said honestly. "I can only tell you that I need to help you with something, that you can help us as well."

"What in the world are..."

Just then, from far away, we heard a muffled pealing of a horn. It reverberated through the echoing streets. Impa immediately turned to us, urgency in her features. "You'll explain later. Come with me, quickly!"

Zelda and I scrambled to gather up our few possessions and followed Impa down a flight of stairs into the cellar of her house. She opened a small wooden trapdoor in the floor, revealing a lightless tunnel of ancient, lichen-shrouded brick. Impa had already lit an oil lantern and was gesturing for us to climb the wooden ladder into the tunnel.

"Where are we going?" Zelda asked.

"We're taking this passage to meet with the others. It's safer underground. That horn can only mean the Gerudo are attacking again. I can only hope..."

"Again?" I interjected. "They've attacked before?"

"Are you mad? Of course they have. They've been trying for months. Oh, it was never anything terribly concentrated. They haven't had the resources, since they were struggling against the Gorons of Death Mountain. Before, it was a sustained pressure. A volley of arrows, a few fireballs thrown into buildings, meant to demoralize us and kill anyone foolish enough to not take cover."

"Fireballs? You mean Verletz was using his magic?"

"No, no, of course not. If he had personally been attacking we'd have been hard-pressed to stop him. There are priests of Din other than Verletz, you know. Verletz's hand-picked clerics are called his Disciples. They help keep the masses of Gerudo inflamed with the words of Din, and they possess powers similar to Verletz's. They have harried us from the beginning. They throw burning meteors over the walls, some small and incendiary, and others large enough to destroy houses."

I took all this in as we traveled down the musty tunnel. My sense of direction was thwarted underground, and I couldn't get a reasonable idea of where we were going through the twists and turns of the passageway.

Impa clearly wasn't interested in explanations at the time, so I let her lead in silence. The shadows around me flickered uneasily in the lamplight. I could almost feel Impa's urge to melt away into them and move more quickly, but I suppose she wanted us to follow. I could only assume that she needed our help.

We made it at last to a large underground room, in which were stacked oak barrels of various sizes---a wine cellar. As we came in through a rickety door, I noticed there were already several scruffy-looking men with torches in the room, and more were filing down a staircase in the back.

The haggard men in the room were wearing dilapidated armor, held together with jury-rigged leather straps, carrying tarnished blades and worn bows. Some had no real weapons, just metal bludgeons made from scrap, or shields made from sewer grates or doors. Each man bore some mark of combat. Scars, deep and grotesque, disfigured the majority of them. Ears bore notches or were missing entirely. Like me, several men were bereft of an eye. Yet still they stood.

I thought I recognized some of the group present, based on vague memories of the townsfolk of Kakariko I had known in my youth, but war's grim toll had made the identification less than certain. I was fairly sure that I recognized several of the builders who, when I had been in Kakariko as a boy, I had seen working on building the inn. They were giants, massively muscled in spite of their rotund figures. Their boss, a wizened gray-beard who nonetheless possessed great strength of body, was present as well. The rest, I did not recognize.

"Where are the others?" Impa asked imperatively.

"They are preparing the defenses, Impa," said one man. His face bore the marks of the torturer: hideous burn scars and deformations on his cheeks and nose. I could only presume he had been captured and interrogated.

"What's going on? How big is this attack?" Impa began to pace among the assembled group, agitated.

"Big. Very big. Everyone we're aware of is moving into position," said another defender.

"Archers? The Deciples?" Impa questioned.

"Aye, and the regulars and are set to move in as well. This is no nuisance attack." The scarred man shifted his weight nervously.

"They mean to take the city at last, then?"

"There can be no other motive."

"Very well, then. This night, we shall stand or fall. Send word to the runners. They must leave the city at once, with the utmost caution, and send word to the Hyrulian Army division."

"What makes you believe those feckless generals will heed our call?" asked one of the assembled.

"They'll come. Even the Hyrulian commanders will see the opportunity here. The Gerudo will be occupied with us. If we can just hold out until the division shows up, the Gerudo will be faced with a second front. Unless the Hyrulian Army division has been somehow attenuated, their numbers should be enough to at least save Kakariko from complete annihilation."

A grim shadow fell over the assembled multitude. No hope of victory lay in their hearts, no fear of death but that their beloved city should be laid to waste. They would die, but could only hope that their city lived on. Still, the odds were long.

"We will die like dogs, Impa. We'll die in the streets, unfulfilled!" The voice held quavering panic that threatened to destroy the cohesion of the battered group.

Impa snarled. "No! If we cannot live proudly, we die so"


	15. Chapter 15

Zelda and I had followed Impa a short distance down another tunnel to get into position for the coming invasion. What little reassuring information she had given me amounted to this: that there were far more resistors than the few that were gathered in the cellar, but the others were outside her jurisdiction. The "runners" of which she had spoken were her finest blockade runners, men and women she had personally trained in the arts of stealth. Although their blood was not of the Sheikah, their skills were nearly as honed. They were going to contact the main body of the Hyrulian army division closest to Kakariko, which had been stationed there for weeks, waiting for their chance to strike. Now the chance was presenting itself, and if the Hyrulian Army reached in time, could, through the sacrifice of Kakariko, be given the chance to assault and hopefully rout the remaining Gerudo forces in this area.

She said, several times to reassure us, that we needed only to survive until dawn. By then, surely, the Hyrulian Army would arrive to at least take the pressure off of the defenders. But I could tell from her voice that simply surviving until dawn, against the assembled host, was going to be far from easy.

We were now inside one of the few houses that were still structurally sound. It was made all of stone, and it was near the walls of the city; it was once an army barracks. Now, the soldiers that once guarded Kakariko were gone, conscripted to fight and die elsewhere, and the guerrillas of the city's husk were now its occupants. We, and about ten other fighters, were gathered here. Impa told me that there were numerous other groups of fighters, lying in wait in various secure structures. The plan was to wait, stay safe, and look for opportunities to engage small groups of Gerudo as they moved through the streets. There could be no large-scale troop movements in the maze of the city: this would be a war of stealth, and skill, which the defenders possessed in copious supply. No one manned the walls; the city was as good as penetrated, but defense of the walls was no longer the goal.

Impa felt sure that the Gerudo had no intention of taking the city. They had no use for large cities, unless the city had a vibrant populace producing supplies for their war machine. This city had nothing of value to them, and it would be destroyed as soon as the Gerudo had suppressed the few survivors, and maybe even sooner. No matter the case, she and her defenders would die, if only to see that even part of their beloved city remained standing when the smoke cleared. Even partial salvation was, honestly, the best that could be hoped for. The magic of the Disciples of Din and the torches of the soldiers would see to that.

For now, though, we were braced for the impact of their magic and their missiles, waiting for our chance to begin our campaign of resistance.

"I don't know if this is a good time, but..."

"But what?" Zelda had her bow ready, I had already unsheathed the Master Sword. Our armaments were by far the best-kept among the motley assortment, aside, perhaps, from Impa's. She was busy sharpening a pair of keen daggers, black as night though made of steel.

"I never found out about the vision you had, just before we fought the Gerudo. You passed out."

"Oh, Link...I'm so sorry. I couldn't control it. And if I hadn't collapsed they never would have noticed us." Zelda looked dejected, never the right mood for a person on the brink of battle. Her poor soul. So much carnage she had borne witness to, and now scant weeks later it was beginning again.

"It's not your fault. Besides, the chain of events that began with your vision has led us here, to meet the next Sage. It's destiny."

"Destiny," she repeated.

"So what did you see? It might be useful."

A shadow passed across Zelda's face. "This. I saw what we're experiencing now, what we're about to experience."

"What?"

"The tense waiting, then the sudden onrushing of battle, like a thunderclap followed by drenching rain. There was chaotic fighting, nothing clear or distinct. The city was dark, just as it is now. It seemed so frightening and dangerous." Her tone was grim, darker than I had ever known her to be.

"Is that it? No clues as to the outcome of the battle?"

With this, Zelda quivered for an instant, a sharp breath escaping her lips, eyes narrowed. "At the end of it all, there was...it was something too terrible...too terrible even for the vision to show clearly. It was something...out of nightmare, that climbed or shambled or flew out of the graveyard, a horrid shapeless shadow. I could tell it was an enemy of all life, Hyrulian or Gerudo." She seemed almost to be reliving the vision. I was stunned at the darkness of her revelation.

I could only think back, with awful clarity of memory, to my nightmare quest through the death-haunted accolades that lurked below this town. A small child, I braved the terrors of the dank catacombs that lay at the bottom of the Kakariko well, and I saw creatures no normal mind should have to accept as part of the rational world. But all of that paled in comparison to the things disgorged by the vault of horrors that is the Shadow Temple. Creatures of skeletal evil, formless shades of hate, and the unfathomable ruler of it all, the hideous, disjointed thing that should not be, to which I, in my terror, could only give the name Bongo-Bongo, after the manner in which it attacked me. Sometimes I wonder if my encounter with that fell beast had been a dream, a fantasy conjured by a brain already wracked with terror and exhaustion. If so, I shudder to think that my own mind could produce such a thing.

Zelda and I brooded there for a moment or two, lost in our thoughts, when I heard something that sounded like the beginnings of a rain storm. The pitter-patter of impacts on the stone roof became evident.

"Oh, no, we'll have to fight in the rain," I said drearily.

"Not rain," Impa said flatly. "Arrows."

She was right, the sound was getting louder, louder than normal rain, and of a different timbre. "The roof will hold?"

"I believe so. The force of arrows won't be enough to..."

Ironically, she never finished her sentence before the fireball struck and demolished the roof.

* * *

As the arrows began to fill the skies, and the white-robed Disciples began their blessed chants and incantations, Verletz and his generals surveyed from a hillock not too distant from the front line. Soon the south wall of Kakariko was engulfed by the Gerudo front, like a great beast opening its maw to swallow its prey the army formed up around the city, the regular troops standing beneath a canopy of arrows and burning meteors lobbed in high arcs from behind them.

Verletz addressed his generals. Their military acumen was excellent by any standard, but it was Verletz himself whose tactical genius had served them so well.

"This is a new kind of battle, my sisters, so use utmost caution. The systematic capture of a large city is a feat to which Gerudo are unaccustomed. Here there will be no battle lines, no unit cohesion or orderly ranks. The streets are narrow, and in any case, I expect many of our number to be so riled with our early success that they will be hard to keep disciplined. Small groups are the only way we can hope to secure every building and every borough fast enough. If we squander our time trying to keep the army together, the resistors will have time to fall back in good order, and as they retreat their forces will only become more concentrated. Trust in your soldiers to complete their mission without your personal leadership."

Finishing, he motioned for his generals to be off. Then he gestured for Nabooru, who had been standing a respectful distance away, to come forward.

"Did you hear my words?" he asked.

"Yes, Lord. Your wisdom guides me."

"Ironic that we, untrained in the ways of urban war, are perhaps the only army that could accomplish the capture of Kakariko. I am certain a lesser force would waste its vigor in looting and thoughtless destruction. But the discipline of the Gerudo soldier will keep her mind on the task."

Nabooru could sense her leader's pride in the army that he had raised out of the bitter and broken Gerudo nation five years earlier. But at the same time, quietly, she could sense arrogance---a hubris, a fearless aggression that had brought about this sudden and unplanned attack. But of course she said nothing.

"The time has come," he continued, "for you to join the troops on the front lines. Gather a handful of the best soldiers you can muster. I trust your judgment will be sufficient. And remember your true purpose for being in the city. Find them."

* * *

A kaleidoscopic instant followed the sudden impact: a roar, a gush of heat, and the thump in the chest of the blast wave. Men dived under tables, into corners. Zelda and I could only fall to the floor, knocked off our feet by the explosion, and pray nothing heavy fell on us. She gave a truncated grunt.

Scarcely had the clattering of the falling rubble and mortar subsided than the whining drone of falling arrows begin again. I heard Impa's voice.

"Into the tunnel! Down! Down!" Men began to scramble towards the trapdoor that led to the basement. One man would not be going down the stairs: he lay dead with shattered bits of brick surrounding his crushed skull.

We happened to be on the opposite side of the room from Impa and the trapdoor. The rain of arrows began intensifying. I hauled Zelda to her feet and clutched her close as I raised the Hylian Shield above me like a steel umbrella. No arrow wounds this time, I would see to it.

A frantic dash, peppered by the clangs of metal arrowheads striking my shield, and we were safe once more, tumbling down the stairs into the cellar. Impa descended after us, closing the heavy wood covering behind us.

We caught our breath. Still the incessant cadence of striking arrows continued. "What do we do now?"

"Now, as ever," Impa replied, "we wait."

Zelda cleaned some of the dust from her body. "How long?"

"It might take hours. The initial bombardment, meant to kill off anyone foolish enough to be exposed. Then the army will move into the city."

"That is when we strike?"

"No. As they enter the gates, their forces will be the most concentrated. We can't fight them on their terms like that. Only when they have dispersed far enough into the city, when the fast groups have lost contact with the main body, can we hope to fight them one group at a time."

"Can we really afford to leave the city defenseless for so long?"

"We can't afford not to."

Zelda nodded in reserved recognition. Impa continued, "It will be a precious interval. If we let them diffuse throughout the whole city, we will have nowhere to fall back to, we will be trapped. And if most of the army has entered the city, the arrival of the Hyrulians will do no good."

"They'll arrive to face the same situation the Gerudo do now," I interjected.

"Right. We have to slow their sweep through the city enough that most of the army is stuck outside, unable to get through the gates at a fast enough rate. We know, based on their numbers, that even with a constant inflow of troops through the gates, the whole army won't be inside the city until sometime around noon tomorrow. If the Hyrulians can get here soon enough, they will be caught halfway in the city, with us harrying them, facing an army attacking from behind them."

Zelda approached me. "We wait," she said mechanically.

"We're safe here, Zelda. Try and relax some." I took her to a corner of the torch-lit cellar, sitting with her there with my sword on my knees and her bow at her side. Time finally began to pass.

"This is worse than on Death Mountain. There, I felt the excitement of battle, the thrill of imminent action. Our foe was plain to behold and our path was clear and downhill. Here I feel only tension, I see only dire fatalism." Her face was worn.

"I'm sure that when the fighting in the streets begins, I'll feel better," she said with some hope. "It's this tense waiting that's playing with my nerves."

I put a reassuring hand to her shoulder, and she appreciated the gesture. I regarded her face with a heavy heart. "I never wanted this for you."

She looked at me. "I won't have it any other way."

The old, stubborn princess I had grown used was appearing again. It comforted me. "Just stay with me, and we'll get through this. I won't let anything happen to you," I reassured.

"I don't want to face whatever is coming alone."

"You won't."

Just then we heard the thudding of arrows begin to stop. A sinister quiet took hold. Then, we heard a dull thudding sound from a distance off, reverberating through the ground.

"They're breaking down the gates," Impa said passionlessly. It contrasted sharply with the fiery devotion she had otherwise shown to her city. "We must be silent, or they'll send troops down here. We should begin to fall back, towards the heart of the city, where we can lay our ambush."

Sure enough, the crunching of booted feet above us began to become clear. The men gathered up their possessions and let their torches burn low, giving a ghostly illumination to the room. We were about to head off into a dark tunnel when Zelda's keen ears heard a voice. Soon I heard it as well and I beckoned for the rest of the group to stop.

The accent was Gerudo. "There's a cellar here."

"No time. We have to hurry, there's a lot of city out there to secure."

"This IS securing the city. Follow me, I'm in command anyway."

"A reever's gizzard, you are. Open it up." We heard someone trying the door to the cellar, and we drew back and extinguished the torches.

"It's locked."

"Bring a bomb. We can't just ignore it. I hear there's a bunch of secret tunnels under Kakariko."

This was bad news. If they found out about the tunnels, soon the whole network would be swarming with Gerudo. We wanted to keep the existence of the tunnels, or at least the way to get into them, a secret for as long as we could.

And bombs? Originally, in my first adventure, bombs were relatively rare. They were considered dangerous, especially in the context of mass deployment in the military.

We retreated a bit further into the unnerving shadows, breathing quietly. I was no stranger to stealth, and neither was Zelda, but we both felt as if we were breathing the loudest among this group of professional sneaks.

A few tense moments passed, then with a terrific shock that sent me jumping, the bomb went off with a great flash of light. Timbers striking the floor echoed down the tunnel. No sooner had the smoke cleared than torchlight illuminated the stairs, and Gerudo soldiers began to enter the room we once occupied.

At Impa's scarcely-seen signal, we began to inch back, further into the tunnel. The Gerudo wasted no time in assessing the room, and quickly noticed the dark tunnel we were in. Now was a critical moment: Would they go back and tell others, or continue into the tunnel alone? I counted only six in the group.

I said a silent prayer of thanks when they set off down the tunnel without calling for backup. Impa had assessed the Gerudo army well. In small groups, unaccustomed to urban combat and feeling incautious, they were trying to cover ground without staying in contact with the main body.

As the Gerudo advanced, we fell back, our stealthy footsteps unheard by the chatting Gerudo. We stayed at the very limit of their torchlight, so that we could see their dim outlines but they couldn't see us. I felt as if we were leading them to the underworld.

We walked a fair distance back from the room we were in, and finally Impa gave the command to stop. We readied ourselves for a sudden rush. Zelda's bow was drawn into dangerous life, a shaft parallel to her arm. Then, silently, Impa leapt forward and the others followed.

Zelda's arrow, even in the darkness, struck true, piercing the Gerudo's light armor and burying itself in her chest. A look of shock spread across the group as the stricken member slumped to the ground. Then before they could shout Impa was upon them, with myself and the rest of the rag-tag band behind her.

Impa's black daggers struck out from her body as if they were vipers, cutting keen razor slices across a Gerudo neck in a movement obscured by darkness that seemed more than natural. Then, in an instant, Impa was gone, slipping into the shadows as if she had never been there. That was when I struck, wielding the Master Sword like a stabbing spear in the narrow hall, skewering a shocked Gerudo through the gut. Around me, an unwashed brute of a man, wielding a piece of metal pipe, swung with deadly furor into the soldier at my right. The club cracked against the woman's skull, sending her tumbling to the ground.

The rest of our group pressed in behind me. The two Gerudo who still stood backed away in terror, their skill in battle rendered useless by the unfamiliar conditions and sudden shock of our assault. One turned to flee, but suddenly, out of nowhere, Impa was facing her as she fled, and the Gerudo's own momentum allowed Impa to stab deep into her abdomen. The Gerudo fell with a choked gasp, and the remaining soldier was quickly bludgeoned by another of our group. As quickly as it had begun, the fighting was over.

"Good work, boys," said Impa, toeing one of the dead. "We've got to keep this up. Onward."

We turned and without further ceremony kept going down the tunnel, going only Impa knew where.

Before long we had reached another cellar, and there were already more people gathered there than those who comprised our band.

The leader of the group currently occupying the space, a young Hyrulian woman wearing dirty chain mail, addressed Impa. "It has begun?"

"They are moving into the city. We have already slain several who followed us into the tunnels." Impa said, cleaning off the blood from her daggers to emphasize.

"I fear we may soon need to abandon the tunnels and take to the alleys. Does your group know all the ambush sites?"

"All of them...except these two." Impa gestured at Zelda and I. "I rescued them from the Gerudo a day ago. They're not spies, several Gerudo are dead by their hands."

"I suppose I should take them off your hands." The woman looked us over, her eyes lingering on the Master Sword's naked blade. She seemed something of connoisseur. "That's beautiful. Where did you get it?"

I gave a sideways glance to Zelda as I prepared to lie about the Blade of Evil's Bane. "Old junk shop. Lucky find."

"All right," the woman said. "Let's go, come with."

"Wait," Zelda interrupted. "We need to stay with Impa."

"Oh? Why?" Impa asked, interested as well as suspicious.

"It's hard to explain. But we can't let anything happen to her." I tried to go on, but nothing I could further say would make sense to them.

Surprisingly, Impa didn't seem to mind the request. "Well...hoping I'll save your lives a second time?"

"I just feel better with you...guarding me," Zelda said.

Immediately I flashed back to the day when I first met Zelda, far upriver in the twisting stream of time. It was then that I also first met the woman who would become the Sage of Shadow, Impa, Zelda's protector, last of the Sheikah line. Now, here she is again. I wondered what circumstances brought her here from Hyrule Castle.

I wasn't sure if Zelda was being coy, or if she had felt some kind of genuine subconscious feeling toward Impa. It would be natural to look to someone who protected you in childhood to protect you again.

Perhaps Impa felt this connection as well. "All right. You're as well off in my hands as anyone else. Let's go. The Gerudo shouldn't be anywhere near as fast as we were in that tunnel. Let's take up our positions." The female leader turned to begin instructing her troops. Impa, Zelda, and myself rejoined our group and we started for a sewer grate over our heads. One of our group had climbed the ladder leading up to it and was preparing to open it.

"You guys ready for the real battle?" Impa asked us. "There will be much blood on your hands tonight. We will have to kill many Gerudo to stand a chance."

I nodded quietly. Zelda looked to me, then to her. "We can handle ourselves."

"I hope so." Then the man opened the grate, and we started to the surface.

Minutes later, I was creeping along a back alley, illuminated only by moonlight, following the group looking for an ambush point. We picked the shell of an old building. It had once been several stories, but now only the first story remained intact, with the roofless second story having only crumbling walls. We hid behind those walls on the second floor, ready to leap down on the first group that arrived. We waited in silence, but it didn't take long.

Soon enough we saw the glow of torches appearing on the streets, and the sound of footfalls and talking. A group of Gerudo, about fifteen strong, appeared in front of us. Even with our group numbering only a dozen or so, Impa apparently felt sure our advantage of surprise would be enough. She looked up over our cover, saw that there were no other groups near to the one we saw, and then put up a hand to signal us. She held us back, perfectly still, until the group passed directly beneath us. Then her hand darted forward, and with it, our company darted off the roof and directly onto our assailants. I, being closest, was first over the edge.

Moments before I took off I recalled an old trick I had mastered for attacking from surprise, and decided it would be appropriate here. It would certainly put fear in their hearts.

As I dove into the open space, followed by my fellow warriors, I held my sword between my legs and braced for impact. I was falling directly towards the head of a Gerudo soldier. A tense split-second of free-fall, and then, with crushing certainty, my blade and my body landed atop the hapless woman. The sword pierced through flesh and bone with ease, driven by my great momentum. The woman scarcely had time to cry out before she was on the ground, skewered, I crouching over her broken body, the tip of my sword embedded in the bloody ground. There were thuds of other warrior bodies landing behind me.

Silently, facing the mass of stunned warriors, I wrenched my blade from the ground and withdrew it, flecks of blood arcing across the ground. I rose to my feet and held the sword at ready, burning with battle fever.

The moment was broken with the twang of a bowstring, and I saw that Zelda had hit home. Navi flew out in front of me, I rushed forward, and the battle commenced, in the same way countless battles had for me. The thrill shot through my nerves.

Before I could get within range, I saw on the edge of my vision a flash of billowing shadow and a darkened form blur across the battlefield. Impa appeared, and brought her daggers home in the back of a Gerudo. Pulling them out, she took a step back as three of the nearest Gerudo came at her with blades drawn. She dodged, dodged again, then disappeared into the shadow of a nearby alley, the Gerudo's scimitars cutting only empty darkness.

As our small band began to rush towards their oppressors, makeshift weapons brandished with murderous glee, the clangor of metal strikes filled the air. Sword chops were deflected by shields made from oak barrel lids, rusted swords with scarcely an edge to chop were sent crashing into skulls and clavicles, metal pipes and blacksmith's hammers were put to bloody new use. We were outmatched in military quality, but held the edge in sheer fanatic vigor. Yet still I heard men's voices yelp out in agony, heard dented weapons clatter to the ground from nerveless hands. No victory could come without price.

I swung again and again with wild strokes, focusing not on a specific foe but rather on those all around me, as I once had when assailed by hordes of monstrous foes. The Gerudo were occupied simply with deflecting my strokes, unable to muster an attack of their own against a warrior of my skill. It occurred to me that these Gerudo were young, raw, new recruits drunk on the thrill of their first battle and unaware of the acute danger. They were dangerous foes, but nowhere near the level of deadly skill that I knew the Gerudo to be capable of achieving.

Soon I had felled one Gerudo, who lay bleeding from the arm and torso, and had cowed more into frustrated defense. I struck with bravado now, twirling and graceful as I lay into them, with the flourishes and tactical strikes that I had used of old.

The Gerudo were disorganized, but smart; quickly they realized that I was their greatest threat. More and more piled toward me. Zelda's arrows struck another Gerudo dead as she turned to attack me, and I fought back with greater furor, seeing my opposition grow. Quickly another Gerudo fell to my thrusts, cut deeply, and a clatter of steel on steel resonated as their slices were met with parries or my shield.

Suddenly behind the group that assailed me was a deadly shape, Impa: a dervish of blackened steel that slew with unnatural speed. I had never before seen a true Sheikah warrior in combat, and it sent a perverse pleasure through me to watch her mechanically, silently dispatch her foes. The tide of the battle had swung firmly in our favor, and the five or so remaining Gerudo fought desperately to escape the encircling ring of Kakariko defenders. The Gerudo knew no surrender, no compromise on the battlefield, and that which they did not offer their foes, they did not grant to themselves. Four who remained died where they stood in stoic agony, and one who tried to run was stopped by a shaft from Zelda's bow. I could no longer think of the bow as mine; it was in her hands that it was truly given life.

The battle had lasted a scant half-minute, but already I could tell that it had been noisy. A faint glow of torches was again becoming visible, and a hodgepodge of panicked voices was rising from down the road. Impa hissed succinct orders. "Back up! Spread out!"

We did not have time to count our dead, but we were still a fighting force. Some of the surviving warriors backed up back into the building from which we had leapt, others darted down alleys. Impa motioned for me to follow her but I pointed to Zelda atop the roof. Impa looked me over, and then stepped back into the shadows and vanished. I had thought she was abandoning me to my own devices, but suddenly she appeared again out of the shadow of an adjacent building, holding Zelda around the waist. Abject confusion shot across Zelda's face for a moment, but then relaxed when she realized what had happened. The whole exchange took mere seconds. Impa pulled us by the shoulder into a darkened corner to await the next skirmish.

A second group of Gerudo rounded the corner. Its size matched the size of our own group. I surmised that it was a part of a larger group that had been sent off to investigate the noises. The group saw the bodies of their kinswomen, and began to rush to their aid, trying to save those who may have been still alive. That was when we struck.

The battle was much the same as the first. A furious drive thrust me into their ranks, flanked by the rugged resistors, Impa wreaking havoc across the Gerudo line, never staying still but always dancing in and out of the light, here and there, always with a flourish of blades and a spurt of blood. Zelda's shafts found homes once more, and the Gerudo's numbers quickly disintegrated.

But suddenly, as the last few Gerudo who stood were subdued, a clamor of footsteps became audible and a great torch-bearing mass of Gerudo rounded the bend. It was, as I had suspected, the main body of the group that had sent the small group to check on the noise. This squad numbered more than double our remaining forces, and concern flashed across Impa's features. "Time to get out of here," Impa said calmly to the remaining fighters. But I interrupted her. "Wait. We have a chance here. Back me up, I have a trick up my sleeve."

I drew out from my pocket the tiny red eight-sided gem. Zelda looked wide-eyed. "Link, you're not thinking..."

I shot her a look, and a rakish grin. "Trust me this time." Without giving anyone more time to object, I dashed into the street and into the Gerudo group, which was moving in to inspect the carnage.

I was among them before anyone had time to react. The Gerudo began drawing their blades, but none were fast enough. Most of them were struck dumb by my sudden, seemingly suicidal advance, which puzzlingly did not end with an attack. I held the gem clenched in my fist, feeling its endless heat pumping through my body. I drew forth my magical essence to feed the divine flames. I was tempted to say something memorable, but before I could the blast wave had erupted from me and it was too late.

The smoke from the blast began to clear, and I stood at the center of concentric rings of singed bodies, eyes smoldering and loose clothes fluttering in the explosion-born breeze. The few Gerudo survivors lucky enough to have been at a safe distance stood rooted with terror, and in an instant the rebels were upon them with clubs and blades, and it was quickly over.

The body count in this particular street had become unsettlingly large. Impa's clear, commanding voice rang out to her troops. "No time to waste. This place is too dangerous now. Let's move out." The troops put their wonder aside and fell in alongside Impa as they quickly moved into a large alleyway and we started off towards another conflict zone.

Impa marched alongside us, and she had no reason to withhold her questions. "What in the hell was that?"

"Magic," I said. Zelda added a "Mm-hmm."

"You use magic?" Impa asked, impressed. "I never thought a magician could fight so well."

"It's not really my magic. It's more of a magical gift," I tried to explain.

"Just be careful when you use it. Unless that fire can tell friend from foe," she admonished, breaking into a jog to catch up with the others.

"I'm not going to try to find out."

We didn't have much time to talk. Pretty soon the alley ended and we were back in the naked street, at a large grassy square. In the center was a chipped and worn, but very ornate, fountain, tarnished from disuse and slowly crumbling. I had never had time to explore Kakariko on my first journey, so many of the things I was seeing were new to me.

"This is no good. Move across and be quick about it. We can't afford to be caught in the open until we meet up with more men and we can be at full strength again."

The group moved across the quadrangle, silent under the moonlight. Impa went last, keeping her sharp eyes out for signs of hostility. The hostility that emerged did not take keen eyes to notice, however.

A terrible noise became apparent, coming from the direction we had come from. There was a thunderous crunch, crunch, crunch, which I began to feel vibrating the earth before the thing hove into view.

Flanked by four Gerudo retainers, there lumbered onto the field a massive biped, nearly twelve feet tall: a walking suit of jet-black plate armor, holding in its steel hands an unthinkably huge axe. Behind its visor no eyes glowed, within its metal chassis no flesh lay. I had faced them before, in the depths of the Spirit Temple. Iron Knuckles.

"Oh, no," Impa breathed. "Everyone run!" Hearing this, and seeing the fearsome golem, the group scattered, each going different routes, taking the shortest path into the protection of the shadows. However, Impa did not move. Seeing this, I stood my ground, and Zelda remained by my side.

By this time the Gerudo had seen the fleeing band, and had noticed us as well. One of the Gerudo, who was closest to the metal monstrosity, spoke something too quiet for us to hear over the clanking of the thing's strides. The Iron Knuckle became erect and alert, with new purpose, and fixed its unseeing gaze on the three of us. Then, with the four Gerudo following it slowly, so as not to outpace it, it began to advance as fast as its massive body allowed it to, slow in comparison to a running man, but utterly unstoppable.

"This is impossible," I sputtered. "Iron Knuckles are relics...ancient magic inhabiting suits of armor in desert tombs...there were only a handful..."

"You have a lot to learn about the Gerudo military, boy!" Impa said hastily, slowly backing up as the thing advanced, trying to think of a plan.

"There's no way...Without my bombs, or the Megaton Hammer, I can't hope to hurt it," I said to Zelda and Impa.

"Almost nothing can hurt it," said Impa calmly. "But it can be outmaneuvered. We have to kill the Gerudo who are guiding it; after that it will become mindless and of little consequence."

I wondered if that were true, but I could not question her wisdom. "I will try."

"Don't you dare. If you get anywhere near it, you'll be chopped in half. I need your lady friend to shoot them. I'll do what I can. Keep the thing distracted."

"All right." I stopped backing up, and Zelda and Impa quickly began to move, in opposite directions. Zelda drew her bow and took aim.

* * *

The Archon was seated in a spacious tent. Around him were several of his top minds. Before him was a massive bonfire. The fire's flames danced and flickered enchantingly. Every now and then, one of those present in the room could swear that she saw an image floating in the flames. Only Verletz, who had cast the spell of divination, could see clearly what the fire revealed. An ever-shifting panorama of scenes, whirling about at Verletz's whim, displaying the groups of Gerudo soldiers, was playing for him in the curtain of flame. Verletz was monitoring the progress of his army, and frequently shifted his magical eye to see large swaths of the city, noting which sections were burning and which were filled with warriors. In the surrounding camp, he knew that the Disciples of Din were using similar if lesser magic to monitor their chosen groups.

Suddenly he felt a sharp spike in his awareness, a surge of anger and impulse that seemed to be directed in a specific direction. The advisors who flanked Verletz took notice of his discontentment, and asked of the trouble.

"The defiler has once more drawn on the power of our Goddess! This cannot be allowed to continue!"

The advisors broke into a chorus of agreement. One voice spoke, "Peer through the aether, and divine his location, that you may smite him yourself!"

"Nay!" interjected another. "It is too risky. Even the fools of Kakariko may yet do you harm by some stroke of luck."

"I will not go," Verletz stated. "I have entrusted the capture of the defiler and his allies to my most trusted warrior. She will act in my stead. Now, let me find this blasphemer." Verletz's eyes began to glow in the dim tent, and suddenly, ghostly orange flames danced before his orbs, obscuring the features of the eyes in a mass of phantasmal fire. Flame engulfed his vision, and suddenly, to his magical sight he saw as if he were floating above the city. Quickly he zoomed in on the source of the disruption he felt, rapidly narrowing down the field to see a large open square. Two figures that he knew very well, as well as a third that he was unfamiliar with, were moving about tensely. Silently he looked at them, and then beheld the source of their unease, a massive Iron Knuckle lumbering towards them, the Gerudo retainers around it beginning to move in.

"No!" he said suddenly, startling the assembled advisors. "This cannot happen!" Before the advisors could question him, he stood and prepared to teleport.

Quickly the advisors moved to stop him. "Great Lord, you must not go! You are needed here to organize the troops!"

"Din's curses on all of you!" he spat angrily. "I must act NOW, before it is too late!"

"Who is your chosen one who will track down the defiler?" asked an advisor, who was one of the high-ranking Disciples of Din. "I will open a channel to her, so you may tell her where to find the one you seek."

Verletz looked grim, and accepted the situation. "Captain Nabooru," he said gruffly. "I just hope she is in time..."

* * *

The Gerudo were galvanized by Zelda's drawn bow. Immediately, all four began to advance on her, shields raised, intent on killing her before she could begin to pick them off. I had hoped that they would have been unable to leave the Iron Knuckle unattended, but without them it still continued on its intractable course towards me.

I could not get to Zelda, because doing so would draw the dangerous Iron Knuckle towards her. I could only silently pray.

Zelda nervously let fire her bow. The arrow flew straight into a wooden Gerudo shield, splintering it, but going no further. She backpedaled frantically, drawing another shaft, as the Gerudo drew closer. Again she fired, this time striking a Gerudo in the thigh. The Gerudo dropped to one knee, cursing, but was soon limping forward again. The other three kept advancing.

Impa was running around the Iron Knuckle in a wide arc, towards the fountain in the center of the green. I couldn't figure out why until I saw her duck into the shadow of the fountain's centerpiece. I lost sight of her, just as the massive golem neared close enough to me to strike.

Its enormous axe whistled through the air, and I leapt to the side to avoid its killing blow. Chunks of turf sprayed from its impact, and with inhuman strength it wrenched the axe out of the earth and drew back once more. I thought that it would again be swinging in a wide and deadly sideways arc, but it surprised me by feigning a swing and then lunging forth with its axe, jabbing it forward like a spear. I was caught totally unprepared, my shield raised in the wrong place to deflect a sideways attack. This Iron Knuckle was more cunning than any I had encountered before.

The blunt head of its two-bladed axe struck me square in the chest, and for a moment I was flying through the air backwards with crushing pain my only awareness. With a shock I hit the ground and began to breathe again. Immediately I heard the thunderous strides of the Knuckle, and heard the creaks of its armor as it drew its axe back again. Ignoring my pain, I rolled to the side just as the huge weapon came crashing down, burying itself almost a foot into the ground. As the golem tried to tug it free, I rose to my feet and gave it a quick slash from my sword. I may as well have been striking a mountainside; the blade reverberated in my hand an only a tiny scratch appeared on the creature.

I wheeled around before it had a chance to attack me again, backing up towards the fountain. In such a large environment, the Iron Knuckle could easily be outmaneuvered...for a while. Eventually I would no longer be able to run and would surely perish.

It advanced, voiceless yet deafening, and swung again, this time in the horizontal arc I had expected. I ducked, felt my hair whistle from the passing blade, then jumped up and hopped over the rim of the fountain's pool. I was sure that having to walk through the fountain to get to me wouldn't stop the monster, but it might slow it down. I was looking for cover, an obstacle of any sort, something to keep between me and it...I don't mind saying that being close to it was a terrifying experience.

Sure enough, the monster's iron foot crashed through the marble rim of the fountain, and it staggered toward me once more, its footfalls buckling the mosaic floor of the pool. Its axe rocketed toward me, and I fell back to the side. The steel axe crashed with tremendous impact into the centerpiece of the fountain, and the sculpted marble exploded apart, sending rubble and dust into the air. I moved around to the other side of the fountain, and it walked straight into the crumbling remains of the centerpiece, brushing aside the marble, which crumbled around its massive legs. My cover had been obliterated.

I almost tripped over the lip of the fountain on the other side. The destruction of the fountain had barely slowed the creature at all, but it gave me time to see what had become of Zelda and Impa.

The Gerudo with an arrow in her leg was now dead, another shaft piercing her abdomen. The other three had closed with Zelda. The Fairy Bow lay on the grass at her feet, and in her hands were the pair of swords Darunia had given her. I had never seen her use them in a real combat. Her dexterous hands kept the blades of the Gerudo at bay, but she couldn't get an attack past their defense. Her skill was remarkable, but she was outmatched.

Then suddenly a dark haze of daggers and cloak appeared behind the attackers, and soon they were dying. Impa divided their attention, slew quickly and efficiently, giving Zelda the chance she needed to drive home an attack. Just as the last Gerudo fell, the Iron Knuckle was upon me, and I had to dive for my life.

A voice broke through the clangor of the battle. It was one of our group that had fled the Iron Knuckle. "Impa! M'lady! A Gerudo patrol is coming this way! We need your help!"

I saw Zelda and Impa waver, and I made a decision. "Go!" I yelled to them. "If a patrol gets here, there's no way I can fight this thing off and them as well!"

Strident fear palled Zelda's face. "Link, I can't leave you..."

"GO!" I shouted forcefully. "Stay with Impa! She'll help you find me after you stop the patrol!"

Impa quickly assessed the situation and agreed with me. "We have to go or your friend has no chance."

The resistance fighter who had come to us added, "They're a ways off but they're coming in fast. Too many to attack without surprise. We've got to get ready!"

Zelda looked at me forlornly, but determination steeled her gaze and she turned and left with Impa.

I noted which direction they went, but that was all I could do. If I lived, I could try to find them again.

I looked for something, anything, that could give me an edge. I decided to try and lure it into a tight alleyway where it would be impeded. Perhaps I could lose it in the alleys. I started backing up as fast as I could, without taking my eyes off the juggernaut pursuing me.

I managed to get to the street that ringed the square, and I looked for somewhere to retreat into. There were no alleyways, but several houses stood without doors. I backed into one, hoping I could keep the creature contained. In the back of my mind I knew that I was preventing myself from escaping, but I could do nothing else.

The monster paused at the doorway, which was far too small, and simply swung its axe across the doorframe, tearing the flimsy wall asunder as it strode into the room.

The ceiling was a few feet above the thing's head, the room was large and mostly empty, save for a few boxes scattered about, and a few support beams running to the floor. It was probably a storehouse of some sort. I could only keep backing up, drawing the creature after me.

I had no idea how long I played the deadly game. I would back up along a wall as the thing advanced towards me, then when I reached a corner I would dart with all my speed along the adjoining wall as the monster swung its axe. One circuit of the room, then two. The Iron Knuckle was stupid, but it was impossible to divert it. I could think nothing of how to defeat or escape it; my mind was locked into  
the challenge of saying alive in the ridiculous race I was running.

* * *

Zelda and Impa took off into the dark alley from whence the messenger had come. "You can't worry about him," Impa said urgently to Zelda. "You need to focus on your situation now, or you'll die in the battle."

Zelda struggled to accept this grim doctrine as she followed Impa. Impa began questioning the scout on what he knew. "Where's the rest of the force?"

"They're up ahead. We're laying an ambush in the marketplace there."

"Good. Do any of the Gerudo have bows?"

"One or two."

"Hmm...girl, you're going to go up on a rooftop and shoot down at them. But you're going to get shot at back. Can you keep safe?" Impa demanded.

"I...I can," Zelda answered, swallowing her fear.

"Good. I'll show you a ladder up to the roof of a good spot," Impa said as they reached a small, square courtyard. The broken and rotted remnants of wooden carts and stalls littered the area. "Take cover at the peak of the roof. The roof might collapse, if it does, get out of there fast. Here, go!" Impa thrust Zelda towards the side of a building where there was a rickety wood ladder to the roof. Zelda's fearlessly ascended, and Impa knocked the ladder to the ground.

"Places, everyone," Impa said to the group that was assembled there. "It's time for this show to start..."

Zelda crouched low on the rooftop, sharp Hylian eyes scanning for the first sign of Gerudo torches. Soon she was vindicated. The glow appeared in the far alleyway, and a company of Gerudo appeared. They moved with purpose and speed into the abandoned market, and were making straight for the courtyard where Link was fighting the Iron Knuckle. Tensely she waited for the ambush to be sprung. But suddenly, with a start, she recognized the Gerudo leading the band.

"Nabooru?" she said aloud, under her breath. Almost as soon as the name had passed her lips, the ambushers sprang from hiding and savagely began to attack.

Without thinking, Zelda nocked and fired an arrow, striking down one of the many Gerudo. As the warriors began shouting and forming up to repel the assault, Zelda realized the danger of the situation. Nabooru the Sage would have to make it out alive at all costs.

"DON'T KILL THE LEADER!" Zelda yelled from the rooftop, but she was unheard over the clangor of battle. However, two Gerudo archers with the group snapped around and saw her crouching on the rooftop; Zelda quickly fell back to duck behind the peak of the roof. Arrows clattered around her.

She rose from her cover and took aim while the Gerudo with bows were drawing forth a second arrow. She shot true, and one of the lightly armored archers was pierced through the shoulder. She stumbled back, unable to continue to hold her weapon, and collapsed onto the ground while the other returned fire.

The Gerudo arrow struck the folds of Zelda's clothes, grazing the flesh of her midsection and getting tangled in her long cloak. She dropped down and shook the projectile off her, taking stock of her minor wound. She nocked another shaft and re-emerged, but was greeted with another arrow flying toward her. This time the shaft pierced straight into the roof she was hiding behind, and Zelda, without missing a beat, sent her own missile into the archer's heart.

* * *

Nabooru was taken by surprise; although she had come to expect the defenders' ambush tactics, each attack was as hard to foresee as the last. She fought back savagely, ordering her troops to do the same. She didn't notice the deaths of the archers behind her.

Malon, a few feet away, was showing remarkable skill in the sword as she battled her attackers, who were armed only with crude, jury-rigged armaments. For the daughter of a farmer she had risen to her calling as a warrior of Din, and she did the mother goddess proud.

The other soldiers in the company fought fiercely, but the defenders would never go down without a prolonged struggle. Nabooru dropped one defender with a slashed belly, and turned to a new target. She saw through the chaos of battle a figure garbed in black wielding what looked like two pieces of sharpened darkness, whirling and dancing through the air, eviscerating her proud warriors. Rage burned in her heart, and she was about to move to attack.

Then suddenly, Malon heard a clattering near her and looked up, noticing atop a nearby building there was an archer, clad in a purple cloak, whose shaft had narrowly missed her. Even from a distance Malon could see the frustration in the female archer's eyes at her missed shot. The woman on the roof nocked another arrow and took aim; Malon was sure the next shaft was intended for Nabooru.

"Nabooru, an archer! Look out!"

Nabooru turned to see what Malon gestured toward, and saw the woman on the roof with bow drawn. Nabooru quickly spotted a nearby stall, and ducked behind it. The archer loosed her shaft, and it struck Malon squarely in the chest.

The young redhead stumbled but did not fall; the arrow was embedded in her armor, but hadn't pierced it. Ever since her last injury by arrow, she had worn an undercoat of chain mail as a precaution. Nabooru's decision to give a valuable piece of armor to Malon had irked the other members of her company, but they had been silenced. Now she thanked her commander for saving her life again, in a preemptive manner at least.

"Captain! Go to the target area and complete the mission! I'll try and handle things here!" Malon began to seek cover.

"No..." Nabooru answered, hesitantly.

"I'll be fine! It's the mission that counts!"

Nabooru mulled over Malon's proposition. Malon's safety was important to Nabooru: after all, if she had her way, Malon would soon be promoted to her second-in-command. But Malon's selflessness reminded her that in war, nothing must restrain a commanding officer: not her emotions, not her personality, nothing but her duty to her superiors and her dedication to her cause. Malon may die here, Nabooru thought, but if her death helped the mission succeed, it would have been a death worthy of a Gerudo. Nabooru would carry on the mission, even if it meant that the rest of the company would have to die from the shafts of the archer or the blades of the mysterious black assassin.

"Good luck, Malon!" Nabooru took off, running low to the ground, moving from cover to cover.

Malon knew what she had to do. She yanked the arrow out of her armor and made a run for the building the archer stood on. Looking warily at the place where the woman was shooting at her, Malon saw that her attention was elsewhere. The rebel archer's shafts were striking the Gerudo warriors, and between her arrows and the blades of the shadow-cloaked warrior, and the savage fury of the other rebels, the Gerudo's significant numerical advantage was being whittled away. The tide would turn soon if she didn't act.

Malon quickly reached the side of the building, but saw no way to access the roof. She quickly noticed the remains of a market stall still standing near the building, whose roof was about five feet below and five to the left of the lip of the roof of the building the archer stood on. She climbed to the roof of the stall, leapt through the air and landed with her arms and upper torso clutching the tile roof. With strength gained from long days of training, she pulled herself up onto the rooftop and made straight for the woman who now noticed her presence.

The archer looked in surprise at the figure and said, "Malon?" Malon was momentarily shocked by the fact that the archer knew her name. In that time, the archer's bow twanged and a shaft struck again, with much greater force at the shorter distance. It almost pierced through the links of her chain mail vest. But she was safe, and she simply reached down and tore the arrow out as she advanced on the woman with sword drawn.

"How do you know who I am?" she shouted angrily, as the archer slung her strange-looking bow across her back and reached for a hilt at her hip.

"I've known you for years," the archer said icily. "I never thought I'd have to kill you."

Malon's blood boiled, and she lunged forward. The grade of the roof---not a steep slope, but nonetheless difficult---made her strike go awry. The archer drew a pair of odd-looking blades and avoided her attack.

The archer thrust with the tip of the larger of her two swords, and Malon raised her wooden shield to deflect the attack. To her shock, the sword pierced the wood, emerging dangerously close to her on the other side. The archer, or rather swordswoman, yanked hard on her blade and drew it back out. Malon saw that her shield would be of little help.

She maneuvered around, trying to outflank the woman and get her to lose her balance. For her part, the sword-wielding woman was sure on her feet and was watching warily, with a modicum of sword fighting skill. Most archers Malon had fought in close quarters were as good as dead.

This woman struck deftly and with skill, but Malon's training saved her. She dodged the sword point and sliced with her own blade, which was parried with the shorter blade in the woman's off hand. Infuriated, Malon thrust again, carelessly: The woman caught Malon's sword between the two blades she wielded, and deflected it aside.

Malon stumbled, off balance, as her momentum carried her with her sword towards the roof. The archer simply lashed out with a whistling cut across Malon's arm that sprayed forth blood, and Malon fell to the roof, rolled, and dropped to the ground below, landing with a thud. She blacked out, while around her, her patrol was being killed by the rallying rebel forces.

The archer took up her bow once more. "I hope Link wasn't counting on her living."

* * *

Back in the storehouse, with my unnerving steel adversary, I was nearing my limit. Exhaustion was setting in, and I felt I could run not much further. I needed a plan, any plan...

I moved across the center of the room, finding my way by the moonlight that snuck in through the windows. Pausing only a moment to catch my breath, the giant metal behemoth swung its axe at me. I barely dodged in time, but the monster's axe clove a supporting beam completely in half. The roof creaked, and a light went on in my head.

I darted towards the second beam, standing a bit behind it, and waited for the Iron Knuckle's inevitable advance. As I had predicted, it shambled forwards and swung again. I dodged, and its axe crushed the timbers of the second beam. There was only one left now; the ceiling was creaking more urgently. Hope surged within me.

I guided the monster to the final pole, and waited for it to destroy it. Sure enough, it chopped the final wooden support, and I braced to dive out of the way of the incoming collapse.

But the ceiling creaked and groaned, and seemed to buckle a bit, but it did not fall. Despair overtook me and I backed up to the wall, out of options. The monster clambered forward and once more, for the hundredth identical time, mechanically leveled its massive weapon at me. I weakly flopped to the side.

The axe swung clean through the wall. The wall began to crumble from the structural damage. Timbers snapped and groaned, and I dove through the hole gouged in the wall. Moments later, the wall gave way, and in a split second the entire ceiling finally collapsed as I tumbled into another room on the other side of the wall.

A cacophonous few seconds followed. The roaring crash of the collapsing building before me was pierced by a metallic, grinding moan that struck me as hauntingly human. Finally the dust began to settle and I saw the moonlight shining on a huge pile of debris. If the Iron Knuckle lived, even its gargantuan strength could not free it from such a pile.

I was now standing, somewhat dazed, in an adjacent building. I surmised from the decrepit furniture and battered lockbox that this was where the owner of the storehouse once did business.

I stood recovering for only a few moments, when I sensed a presence. I wheeled to face the door to this room, and saw a female figure in the doorway, illuminating the room with a small torch.

"Impressive work. But it's not going to save you."

"Nabooru?" I gasped.

"Lay down your weapon if you wish to come with me unhurt. Keep it drawn, and I'll bring you to Verletz slung over my shoulder."

"Nabooru, wait..." I was utterly dumbfounded. I had no idea what I could do. I couldn't hurt her, but she was already moving to attack me.

"I don't care how you know my name. Drop your sword or I'll drop it for you!"

Whatever I did, I couldn't surrender to her. Going willingly into Verletz's clutches was worse even than killing one of the Sages. I raised my sword once more.

"So be it!" Nabooru spat, and came at me, scimitar in one hand and torch in the other.

Her first stroke I blocked with my shield. I felt the ringing impact all through my arm, which only reminded me of my fatigue. I kept talking, trying as hard as I could to get her to relent. "Nabooru, please...you don't understand, you've got to..."

She ignored me. Once, twice, again and again her sword slammed into my defenses. I stumbled, backing up, and hit a staircase. I advanced up it with leaps and bounds, trying to get an advantage over her. The best I could hope for would be to subdue her. She kept coming up the incline of the stairs.

Soon I was in the creaking top floor. Nabooru struck again. I had to fight back.

I struck with the Master Sword, aiming for her hand that held the torch. To my surprise, she blocked the blade with the wooden brand. The Master Sword's keen steel sliced it, and it broke apart, the force of the impact sending the burning head of the torch flying across the room and into a corner. The mass of cobwebs lit quickly, and the room began burning.

In the flickering light Nabooru and I dueled, back and forth, both of us trying to deal non-lethal blows. I couldn't risk hurting her, she apparently wanted me alive. The fire continued to spread, and I looked for a possible escape. There was a window large enough, but it was shut.

I began to back away toward that window, but Nabooru surmised my intent. With a blinding-quick strike she knocked my shield aside, and my aching muscles were unable to resist the blow. Then with lightning speed her foot reeled about and came speeding into my chest with unimaginable force. I was knocked off my feet and crashed into the window. Glass shards fell and shattered around me, cutting my back. I was dazed.

Nabooru then came full at me, batting away my sword, and tackled me squarely. Both of us flipped out the window and fell.

I hit the ground with Nabooru atop me, although I had the presence of mind to roll and twist myself to avoid the full force of the impact directly on my spine. Still, every part of me ached, and Nabooru now pinned me to the ground, her sword raised for a killing blow.

"Give up!" She shouted at me. "I don't want to kill you!"

Before I could say anything, I felt a chill run down my spine. Somewhere, far off in the distance, there was a terrible clap of thunder and a peal of lightning lit up the night, although there were no clouds in the sky. Immediately, a palpable wave of cold darkness seemed to wash over me. The fire, which had engulfed the second story of the building, instantly vanished, as if a great freezing blizzard had swept over it. Nabooru stumbled to her feet, backing off of me, and looked with dazed terror towards the source of the explosion.

I felt terrible fear gnaw at me. But at the moment, all that I could do was turn and dash away from Nabooru, into a dark alley, and make my way towards where Zelda and Impa had gone. A great menace was moving, something more terrible than the Gerudo, and I had to find them as soon as I could.

A distance away, Zelda, dispatching the last of the Gerudo patrol, saw the great flash of lightning with more clarity than I. She saw it arc from a black cloud that had formed suddenly over Kakariko Graveyard, and saw it strike somewhere within that dread necropolis. The wave of cold darkness swept over her, and she shuddered as Evil brushed her soul.


	16. Chapter 16

Verletz stood alone on a hillock that overlooked the brooding massiveness of Kakariko. His gaze was fixed to the north, upon the hillside graveyard of the city. There, he knew, had once lain the mausoleums of the kings of Hyrule. Now they were part of a mass grave, a burnt offering to the devouring specter of war. Evil grew fat on the sustenance of such death, he knew: an evil power that was ready to awaken.

The battle was faltering. His forces were dying, meeting resistance much stiffer than had been anticipated. Verletz knew it, his generals were beginning to suspect it, and it would only be a matter of time before the soldiers themselves despaired. Verletz had sensed impending disaster almost from the moment his troops had entered the city. But his pride had made him stay the course.

Many wearying hours would go by before they had taken the city, and it might be days before the last traces of the resistance had been stamped out. Retreat now would render meaningless the deaths his invasion plan had brought about, but to press onward would stain his hands with further blood. There had to be another way, there _was _another way...

Long he had pondered it. He knew of it before he had even started the attack, but it had never entered his mind that he could even consider using it. But now it _had _entered his mind. Or was this really his mind? Could his real mind ever reconcile what he was about to do?

But it was the only way. There could be no other option. A great and terrible gift had made itself known to him in this his darkest hour, and it was impossible for him to resist its use. His pained, reasoned sensitivity had led him, through dire circumstance, down the path he had once feared to tread. His reservations had been shorn away by necessity, and by another, more sinister influence...

He did not know from whence the presence in his mind had come. It spoke to him with his own voice, but its words were not his own. He tried to resist it, but how can one resist one's own nature? It was his nature, it could be nothing else...it spoke to his most primal desires, his most desperate hopes. His army, his nation, he himself, all would be rewarded if only he used the powers that lay within him. It was the only way...the only way to save his soldiers from the fate that he himself had brought upon them. He was foolish to attack Kakariko in such haste, but now his error would be corrected. It was all so easy...

The last vestiges of doubt fell from him as if they were crumbling rocks falling away from a proud, jagged pinnacle. Morality left him, and a dark, burning ambition rushed in.

Darkness glowed in Verletz's eyes. He was born anew. His fist clenched, and shining through the darkness with bleak, terrible radiance was the mark upon his hand. The mark, the topmost Triforce…no longer the mark of Din's favor, but the mark of something primal, greater even than the gods: the mark of Power. The power he craved, the power he needed...

He began a chant, a dark paean to the powers of death. He spoke words that he knew not with his conscious mind, but from some primal source that was older than he, some terrible thing that dwelt within him, alien and yet intrinsic. It had always been there, he knew, waiting for its chance to propel him to greatness. The chant wove itself forth from the depths of his soul, and as it gathered its strength a cloud of malignant darkness began to form over the Kakariko graveyard. Finally the canticle reached its terrible crescendo, and he spoke the words that sealed the warlock spell.

A great and terrible bolt struck from the cloud, illuminating the world with ghostly light. Verletz stood, towering in the darkness, his mind and his will no longer his own, but a fusion of his and another's, a power greater than either individual.

This victory would be _his, _not his army's, and the spoils would be his and his alone.

A frantic voice interrupted Verletz's sinister calm. One of the Disciples of Din, accompanying a high-ranking officer, came running towards their leader. The Disciple, with fear clouding her eyes, cried, "My Lord, I have sensed a great burst of magic! It is unlike anything I have encountered, it is a force of purest evil! Surely you have sensed it..."

"I have," Verletz spoke in a voice that was not quite his own. "The vile Kakariko resistors have committed an atrocity of monstrous proportions, in the name of protecting their cursed city. Make haste, and send the word to every Gerudo in Kakariko: They must leave as quickly as they can."

"Sir, how...? We can't send more people into the city to tell the others to flee, no one knows where anyone else is and no one knows the map of the city...we have nowhere near enough magic to contact every single Gerudo through the aether...By the time we get the word out, it may be too late!"

"Find a way!" Verletz bellowed.

As the two advisors scrambled to carry out his order, Verletz stood still, unmoved by their frenetic terror. He gently stroked his fingers across the glowing triangular mark upon his hand, and grinned in fiendish triumph.

* * *

Only a few resistors still stood at the site of the battle with the Gerudo patrol, but the patrol itself was no more. Zelda descended from the rooftop, joining the dumbfounded survivors, who stood shaking with nameless fear.

"Something terrible has happened," Zelda said quietly. Impa looked towards the site of the lighting bolt, the ancient graveyard of Kakariko.

"This can't be happening...who...?"

"What? What do you know?" one of the men demanded. Impa gave him a stern look, but relented.

"I learned my skills from an ancient order, a race of shadow warriors with vast knowledge. I was told of a dark power in Kakariko, a thing of evil that must never be disturbed. I thought no one alive possessed the power to awaken it, but it's stirring as we speak."

"What can we do?" the men asked.

"Link," Zelda said urgently. "We have to find Link. He...he is the only one who can fight this evil. I know."

"Link?" Impa said, intrigued yet concerned. "Your friend's name is Link?"

Zelda had not the energy to try and efface her admission. "Yes. I can't explain to you, but...he is our only hope."

"I heard Link is the name of the boy...who..." Impa trailed off, with a pained countenance. But she quickly shook off the reigns of her painful memories. "Very well. If you want to find him, I'll protect you to the end. I will not fail you as once I did another..."

"This way, then!" Zelda took off towards the courtyard where Link had been fighting the Iron Knuckle. Impa gestured to her surviving soldiers. "Go and find another group, and join them. You'll need strength of numbers to survive what is coming."

* * *

Running through the darkness, the alleyways illuminated by a moon that seemed not as bright as it once was, I quickly became totally disoriented. I knew only that I had to get away from Nabooru, and hope that the fortunes would smile on her survival. Then I realized that Nabooru wasn't the only Sage who was in danger here. I had to find and protect Impa...and Zelda.

But how? I slowed to a stop and took stock of my situation. My bones ached, but I did not bleed, and I could still fight. I had only a vague idea of what could be happening. A mind-numbing, soul-chilling evil had touched Nabooru and myself, one that so shocked us that she was distracted from her goal. I didn't know what this would do to the invasion plans, or if indeed it was all a part of the invasion. I only knew that it had been evil magic, and that the evil that undermines Kakariko is not to be trifled with.

I stumbled out into the open space once more, and to my surprise I found myself near a part of town I recognized. To the north was the remains of the great windmill, and beyond it, the haunted graveyard where something was now stirring. Before me, in the center of the town square, was the stone rim of the Kakariko well.

My eyes were drawn to it irresistibly. In the glimmering moonlight it took on an air of sinister menace, yet I could not ignore it. I began to walk forward cautiously, a vague curiosity now becoming apparent.

As I approached the well, with great swiftness I saw the periphery of my vision become blurred, as if I were rushing forward at great speed, and all of a sudden, I was seeing a scene both familiar and terrifying.

Kakariko was restored to vibrant life---the colors returned to its buildings, the ruination of war absent. The sky was weeping great torrents of rain, which fell upon burning buildings. As I stood enthralled, I could not take my eyes off the well, which was still at the center of my vision. Then, over my head passed a great shadow.

Something formless and unspeakable passed amorphously down from above into the well, a moving splotch of darkness that had been oozing its way about the town.

With this shock, I was freed from my fascination, and I wheeled around, realizing what I was experiencing. It was another vision, coming to me not in dreams but in my waking mind. Kakariko, when I had entered it after freeing the Zora from the evil of the Water Temple, was in such a state. And the person who had chased the darkness into the well...

Sheik was there before me, and then suddenly the vision ended.

I was back in the real Kakariko---though who can say which was the _real_ Kakariko?---where I had been standing. Once again I was beneath the moon, staring at the sinister well. My vision had been abrupt and startling, but still I could not resist looking...the vision had only increased my morbid fascination.

It was after my talk with Sheik in the rain of Kakariko that I had taken a sojourn back through time, back to childhood, where I had braved the depths of that shadow-cursed well. Mad thoughts were in my mind...what had become of the well now? This gateway to such terrible evil...was it full of water, keeping at bay the horrors that resided within? Had it run dry? Were even now a host of damnable monsters waiting, slavering, in its darkened depths, waiting for someone to stick their head over the side of the well and look upon their hideousness?

I was now at the side of the well, just a few steps away. As I advanced, my vision took in more and more of the black hole...the very maw of madness.

I looked down. The well was black as night and utterly empty of water. Nothing stirred within, but in my mind I knew the terrors that lurked within, and my brain conjured all the phantom noises that those monsters had made.

It was calling me, even as it had summoned my young self to brave its terrors and plunder its dripping darkness. I wanted to go in...I had to go in...

Some imp of the perverse, some dark entity invading my mind. I was ready to fall freely into that cursed darkness and plummet down into the abyss.

"Link?" called a voice.

A voice, a voice I cherished, snapped me instantly from the well's diabolical compulsion. I turned to see...

Zelda was there with Impa, but with no one else. They had, by amazing fortune, managed to find me. Perhaps I had not run as far from the square where I fought Nabooru as I had thought. Perhaps I had left a trail of some sort that Impa's trained mind could follow. Perhaps the machinations of fate were bent on keeping us together. Regardless, I could not have been happier to see her.

I fled with relief from that cursed well, not looking back. Zelda's joy was as great as mine, and we embraced with tremendous gratitude. "Link, Link, thank the gods you're all right," she said inarticulately.

"I'm okay. Are you hurt?"

"No, no. What happened?"

"The Knuckle, I destroyed..."

"What?" Impa seemed incredulous.

"It doesn't matter how. You might not believe this, but Nabooru somehow..."

"She found you? I thought that might have been why they were headed that way." Zelda was not surprised.

"You mean the patrol? She was with it?"

"Yes, although I don't know how she managed to slip away."

"Enough of this!" said Impa testily. "We have a crisis on our hands, I have no time for your needs." Impa was acting very much from a commander's point of view. She was right, Nabooru was none of her concern and we had bigger things to worry about.

"Link, we've got to go to the graveyard. We have to stop...whatever's happened there."

"You can't stop it," Impa said sternly. "Nothing can stop it."

"We have to try," I said.

"It will devour you. I've lived in this town for longer than you've been alive, and I know what lurks beneath it. You are helpless to stop it. As am I."

"No," I said decisively. "You are the only person who can stop it."

"What do you mean?" Impa said angrily.

"I can't explain it to you now, but...it's destiny. It's your calling. You have to help us try and stop whatever's happening, and if you don't, nothing will."

Impa looked from me, to Zelda, and to me again. "Do you speak...of the prophecies? Of the Hero? The Sages?"

"You've heard of them?" asked Zelda.

"You may not know it," Impa said slowly, "but...I was..." She sighed, as if to collect her strength to continue. "I was once a servant of the Royal Family of Hyrule. It was my job to protect the Princess. Ever since..." Again she paused.

"Impa?" I said, trying to show my sympathy.

"You both know what happened. I failed. And ever since my failure...but my past isn't what I want to discuss. I know the prophecy because I have learned much in my travels. From the royalty of Hyrule I learned of the rise of a great hero, who would free the land from a pall of darkness. Aiding him would be seven great sages...and your words reminded me of this prophecy. What you said about destiny..."

I was debating whether to tell her everything that I could, and hope that by some miracle she believed that I was the destined hero. But it would take too long, and when last I had tried to explain this truth, to Darunia and Little Link, they had justifiably ignored it.

"Impa...maybe, I am the hero of which the prophecies speak."

She looked up at me. "Are you saying..."

"Maybe not. But it may be that I am. And if I am, you are a Sage. It would be your destiny to help me. The fate of the world would rest on your shoulders. And even if none of that is true, I am certain that together we can save Kakariko from both the Gerudo and from this new menace. Even if you're destined to be no one but Impa the blockade runner, your valor cannot rest here unused. You've got to try."

Impa looked contemplative and folded her arms. Her eyes closed briefly as she gave a long exhalation of breath. Finally she looked again into my eyes. "Very well."

Zelda looked pleased. "You're doing the right thing."

"I would rather die here than...than fail to protect something I love...again." Emotion clouded Impa's eyes.

"Let's go. We have to try and stop it before it can..."

Before I could even finish, there seemed to come from the direction of the well a jarring, unnerving scraping sound. I knew this was no hallucination. Both women also turned to face the dark hole. The scraping noise came again, increasing in volume, and frequency, until there was a horrible cacophony of grinding, scraping sound. All three of us drew our arms and began to warily encircle the well.

With nothing further to herald its coming, a bleached, skeletal arm snaked over the side of the well. A grinning, sardonic skull appeared, pinpoints of red light burning ghoulishly in its empty sockets. Quickly the entire horrid creature had climbed monstrously out of the well, and more deathly arms and bodies appeared behind it. It was as if a veritable tower of the restless dead was emerging from the Kakariko well.

All three of us shrank back in fear. Zelda had only a passing knowledge of these terrible creatures, from what she had experienced in Ganon's castle, and I didn't know if Impa had ever even conceived of such monstrosities.

The skeletal warriors that emerged from the well were clad in rotting garments, some in scraps of leather armor, some still with helmets or boots adorning their fleshless heads and feet. They were not large creatures, no larger in fact than a young human. I recalled these beasts, as I had once faced them when I happened to be trapped by nightfall in the middle of Hyrule Field. Stalchildren, they were called, being the weakest of the Stal race of walking dead. I recall that even as a young boy I had been able to defeat the trio that had risen from the ground with ease. But, I recalled haltingly, their numbers were infinite. Even in the relatively peaceful lands of Hyrule Field, the soil disgorged endless numbers of them. Here, where the very earth was saturated with death...what terrible army would rise from its shallow grave?

I realized we had to act, before more of them emerged from the well. "The time is now!" I yelled. That was all the encouragement needed, and we moved in to fight the horde.

I struck swiftly and decisively into the center of the undead, with speed that their unliving bones could not hope to match. Ancient, brittle skulls shattered to bits. Limbs were hacked cleanly off, the desiccated tendons holding them in place turning to dust at the stroke of my holy sword. Although in my battles against the Gerudo I had grown accustomed to fighting human foes, foes that thought and reasoned and planned, I quickly returned to the style and mentality I had once reveled in long ago. Monsters, beasts---these were threats that needed to be overcome, and in the same way that their animalistic, brutal minds held no guile or sophistication, they spoke to my most primitive instincts.

It was unfortunate, but I was clearly the most effective member of our trio when dealing with this horde of skeletons. Zelda's archery had saved my life several times now, but it was useless against a walking, fleshless skeleton, much less a huge mass of the same. Impa's daggers, made to bleed the life out of the living, were far less effective against the inhuman dead. And of the group, only I had faced these monsters before: I could hardly expect Zelda to cope with these things of nightmare, and although Impa was destined to become the Sage of Shadow, she seemed at present to be stymied by a fatalistic mindset, the dire weight of the evil curse over her town that was imparted by her Sheikah knowledge. But knowing that their fate rested largely in my hands, I was driven to fight with still greater furor.

The exhaustion and weariness that had hung over me was lifted like a shroud, my muscles invigorated by combat and my mind focused sharply onto the here and now. As I had remembered, the creatures I faced were almost pathetically weak. No sooner had a group of them emerged from the well than I had cut them down, their decrepit bones clattering to the ground, once more motionless. Emboldened, the two ladies attacked as best they could, Impa using her daggers to carefully cut the joints and limbs of the attackers, Zelda drawing her pair of blades to fight. But it was clear that my long blade, wielded with strength, was cutting a swath through the undead ranks far more effectively.

But although my mind threatened to lose all grasp of the situation and wallow in the sheer pleasure of victory after victory, I kept myself grounded by focusing on the vast numbers of foes. We were keeping the undead from forming a large mass by killing them as soon as they emerged from the well, but the rate of their emergence was quickening, and we were struggling to fight the monsters back. Their attacks were unwieldy and slow, but my defenses were finite: I began to feel their bony fists and claws on my back, on my side. Still more poured out of the well. The mass threatened to engulf me. In a moment of dizzying fear I pictured the clinging skeletal horde toppling me over into the blackness of the well. I swung more and more savagely. I struck with my feet, kicking the leg-bones out from under the monsters, crushing their skulls beneath my boot. I slammed my shield into their ancient crania. I shook and reared like a wild stallion as they clutched me, trying to keep them from pinning me down. Every second I spent trying to keep pace, more were emerging. It became clear that we would have to retreat.

Cutting a path through the skeleton horde toward Zelda, I tromped across the sea of splintered bone at my feet and reached her side. The undead moved slowly but with intractable intent, filling the gap, forming a threatening, disorganized mass centered around the well.

"We can't keep this up without help," I panted. "We have to regroup, find others."

"They're too tired," Impa said with scarce breath. "They wouldn't have lasted nearly this long. That's assuming they even had the nerve to stand and fight."

"Then we've got to get out of here," I said. "We have to find out what's happening."

"The graveyard," Zelda gasped out. "That's where the lightning struck. That's...whatever caused this is there. We have to get there and stop it."

Impa and I could only agree. I didn't know if what was making the undead rise could be "stopped," necessarily, but it was logical to try and do whatever we could.

"This way," Impa said, gesturing to a stairway that led toward the windmill and the graveyard beyond.

"Can you...can't you walk through the shadows? Take us there?" Zelda asked.

"I...I could try. I fear to use my powers in the face of such terrible darkness already present. Plus, I am weary with the strain of battle. I have used my shadow walking much already, and it has left me drained. If I do it now, I probably won't be able to do it again."

"It may be the only way," I encouraged.

"Very well. Take my hand, quickly!" Impa intoned. The skeletal horde was beginning to shamble in our direction. I gripped Impa's hand, and Zelda gripped mine. Impa took cautious steps towards the shadow of a looming building.

I felt myself being drawn into that shadow, and the feeling, especially in this evil time, was terribly unsettling. I would have surely balked had it not been Impa who was guiding me onward. I felt as if I rushed into a tunnel of shadow, the world around me dark and indistinct. Then, I stepped out of the tunnel, and into a waking nightmare.

* * *

It was a rough sensation Malon was first aware of, and then a clatter of sounds: footsteps and clanking and nervous speech. As she came into awareness, she felt herself lying limp, her upper body supported off the ground, and her legs dragging across the rough cobblestone. "Wha..."

She looked around dazed, and felt the press of hands on the flesh of her arms. Gerudo soldiers dragged her along the ground, but they slowed when they noticed her signs of life. "She was alive after all!"

"I...I am alive," Malon said disjointedly, and then tried to stand on her own. With the help of the soldiers' support she managed to regain shaky footing.

"It looks like you fell off a building and got knocked out," one of the soldiers told her. "You'll be fine."

"Nabooru...what happened? The mission?"

"Who? What?" The soldiers looked uncomprehending. Malon tried to re-phrase her query.

"What did you find when you found me?"

"Lots of bodies," the soldier said humorlessly. "Hope you didn't have any friends in that squad." Malon hadn't, but it was nonetheless a shocking turn of events.

"They went down fighting, though. Plenty of Kakariko scumbags aren't breathing anymore either," said the other soldier, by way of recompense.

"Captain Nabooru was our leader. What happened to her?"

"Never heard of her. And so it goes without saying I haven't seen her either. We'll sort that out when we've finished this fight."

Malon wanted to object but held her tongue. She was lucky to be alive and could do nothing more to help her commander's mission anyway. It was now her duty to help the greater goal of the army: The defeat of the resistance.

"You good to fight? We brought your sword." Malon's glance took in her weapon at the soldier's hip. She nodded. Her defeat at the hands of the cloaked swordswoman had done nothing to instill fear or despair in her, it only inflamed her further.

"Good, here you go. We have to be careful, or we'll walk right into another ambush..."

No sooner had those words passed her lips than the whole platoon come to a stop, hearing the sounds of panicked footfalls. A large cluster of Kakariko fighters hove into view around a turn. Fear clouded their eyes, a fear unlike any Malon had ever seen.

"Ha! Fleeing from some of our friends?" The commander of the squad leered. "You unwashed cowards should learn. This is our city now, and you've got nowhere..."

"Run, you fools," said one of the resistors with cold urgency. "Or we all die here."

"What idiocy is this? Cut them down," the commander snapped.

Suddenly both sides became aware of a presence bearing down on them. The Gerudo suspected it was all part of a trap, and turned around to the alley behind them. Malon drew her blade, but then gave a start as her heart ran cold.

Emerging from the shadows of the alley was an army the likes of which the world had never seen. Bleached, naked bones knit together by sinister force and given life once more, shambling forward in a ghastly wall, silent but for the clattering of the bones upon the cobblestones. The Gerudo were frozen in stark terror. Eventually they turned, frantic, back to where the resistors were standing, but behind them, behind the ragged group of rebels, was the terror from which that group had been fleeing. More skeletal warriors marched grotesquely towards the stunned group of foes.

"F...fight!" The Gerudo commander said waveringly. "Fight them, damn it! We have to get past them!" Gerudo blades trembled in their wielder's hands. They stood their ground as the skeleton horde approached, and behind them, the rebels steeled themselves to face the terror they had fled head-on.

The battle was calamitous. The Gerudo struck recklessly into the skeleton ranks, maddened with primal terror. Each soldier pressed forward, slaying with each stride, into the horde, desperate to penetrate through the undead ranks and reach safety. But as they waded further into the dead, they met with ever more resistance. Quickly individuals were overpowered. Three and four at a time the small, evil creatures clutched and grappled and clawed, dragging a soldier to the ground, prying the blade from her hand, teeth and claws sinking into the exposed flesh. Splatters of blood soaked the streets and stained the white bones.

No thoughts were in Malon's head, no emotions but pure unreasoning fear, no ability to act save to swing again and again at the tide of undead, desperately trying to go anywhere. She had no idea what was becoming of her fellows, or what of the rebels. She was alone in a sea of monsters trying frantically to stay afloat.

It was a scene of horror that was being replayed again and again across the vast city. Rebel and Gerudo alike were pressed into mortal combat. The idea of victory was vanished from their minds, their only thoughts on survival. And in spite of their ages of training, despite their fearsome discipline and skill, they died---unmanned by sheer terror in the face of an unstoppable, inhuman tide, they died in scores before they could even lay a stroke upon the foe, before they could make a break through the undead lines towards safety. Arranged, well led, organized and in high spirits, the armies could perhaps have held off the attackers long enough to survive. Alone, in disarray, and deranged with fear, they were nigh unto helpless against the mindless, unfeeling enemy.

* * *

We tumbled out of the shadows and landed on the broad thoroughfare that led up to the massive gates to the Kakariko graveyard. To our left was the ancient windmill, to our right was the hilly edge of town. Before us was the looming, rusted portcullis, held aloft by thick chains, the held the gate to the cemetery sinisterly open. But on all sides, surrounding us utterly, were the restless dead.

It was a nightmare that I will never forget: a roiling sea of white bones and gray, rotted raiment, thousands of flickering red eyes glaring from black empty sockets, the scraping of endless skeletal feet across the stone roads. The numberless horde was pouring forth from the maw of the graveyard, disgorging itself into the city. It disappeared down alleys and streets, like tendrils spreading towards the heart of Kakariko. We had been deposited in the very center of the river of dead, and within an instant we were fighting for our lives.

"Stay close to me!" I shouted to Zelda and Impa. No matter what, we could not afford to be separated. Alone, we were helpless. My sword was in motion almost from the moment we emerged into the swarm.

The killing was swift and brutal, the Master Sword reaping the undead before me in great strokes. I cut a path towards the cemetery, as if fighting upriver. Before, we were fighting these beasts in relative openness, with lines of retreat around us: now we were surrounded, with no hope of escape, and the only way to move was to cut through the undead horde as if it were tall grass. Stalchild after Stalchild fell, but each that fell allowed more to block my path. Those that rose up to grasp me were cut down by Zelda's blades and Impa's knives. Refusing to let fear take the edge from my skill, I pressed on, with only one burning goal in my mind keeping me from mad terror: to get to the center of the graveyard.

We passed under the great gated wall that separated the graveyard from the city. The portcullis loomed over my head. The ranks of skeletons were not dense, and had there been fewer, we might have been able to dodge and weave between them and advance. But the sheer number before and behind us made it impossible to advance by any means save cutting a path. From above, we must have resembled a dense knot in the even mass of skeletons, for as we moved, we drew those skeletons around us towards us to attack, in tightening rings outward from our position. Impa and Zelda guarded the rear admirably as I scythed a path for us towards the graveyard.

As we finally entered the graveyard, I was shocked at what I saw. Zelda had described to me the state of the once-proud Kakariko cemetery, but to see first-hand the jumbled mass of shattered tombstones and yawning pits made me start with fresh terror. From all sides, Stalchildren crawled from the loose earth. A mighty war machine, fed by the bodies of war itself, was emerging from the dirt.

Zelda's insistent voice broke through to my ears. "We have to stop this somehow. At this rate all of Kakariko will be overrun!"

"I'm looking! I can't see anything that looks like the source!"

"No! I mean we have to keep them from leaving the cemetery!"

"WHAT?" Impa asked, taken aback. "Trap ourselves in here with them? I can't take us back out..."

"We're trapped no matter what we do!" Zelda yelled over the clamor of battle. "There's no way we can fight our way back out of here! We have to do what we can to keep the menace contained, or hundreds more will die in the streets!"

With Impa no longer able to take us through the shadows, we would indeed be trapped. However, I could not deny that this was the right thing to do. Grim acceptance was on us, but I could see only one means. "The gate?"

"Rusted completely," was Impa's reply. "The lowering mechanism is probably broken anyway."

"There HAS to be a way!" Zelda's desperate insistence moved me, but the situation seemed hopeless. I agreed with her plan. There would be only one way that we walked out of that cemetery alive, and that was if the undead horde was defeated. If we were going to give up our lives there, the least we could do would be to at least buy the defenders time to escape the horde before it broke free of the cemetery.

Zelda's frustration and sadness were palpable. Her noble spirit was dampened in the knowledge that even such a selfless act of heroism as sealing off our only exit for the greater good of Kakariko would be denied her. Something must have come to her in that moment of anger, and she clenched her fist, eyes shut briefly in concentration.

A great groaning creak ripped from the ancient portcullis. Zelda summoned her concentration and brought her clenched fist slamming down. In an instant, the gate shuddered, tore free of its rusted chains, and came slamming down. Skeletons beneath its massive bulk were crushed to dust, and those now trapped inside the cemetery before it stood dumbly, amassing before it trying to continue moving.

Zelda seemed as startled as the rest of us. "I...I did it. I recovered something..." It gave me a bolstering moment of amusement to realize that Zelda's ability to raise the gates of Ganondorf's castle as we fled it had returned to her here, and had been put to amazing new use.

Impa had no time to wonder as we pressed onward. The number of foes we faced was waning, as most of the monsters were engaged in crawling their way out of the ground. We were given the chance we needed to reconnoiter, to try and determine what the source of the terrible plague of undead was.

We moved cautiously around the massive graveyard, stumbling across fallen gravestones, climbing up hills of dirt that had been displaced from the smoking pits. We slew the monsters as they emerged, and then moved on.

"Something must be here," Zelda said. "There has to be something. A leader, a progenitor..."

As we moved, I kept my eyes peeled for something out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. I noted, with a small amount of hopefulness, that not as many Stalchildren were emerging from the ground as before, as if the torrent of undead bursting forth from the earth were beginning to wane. As we neared the center of the graveyard, I was still stumped as to what to do about the menace. The gate that Zelda had lowered was being assaulted by hordes of skeletons, whose unholy strength in numbers was shaking and warping the corroded metal of the portcullis, and we knew we had to act fast to stop the horde before our stopgap measure failed. We had at least bought those still in Kakariko a reprieve from the endless flow of undead. However, we had only sealed ourselves in with the very spigot from which they flowed...

The massive graveyard of Kakariko seemed to sense our presence as if it were a thing alive, as if it was aware of the tiny motes of life that were wandering in death's storehouse. There seemed a great pause, in which the hordes of undead which crashed against the closed gate stopped as if to listen to some silent voice from beyond. Dread hung in the air, and it seemed a great malevolent presence was marshalling itself for a renewal of its assault.

No sooner had this feeling washed over us than suddenly, shockingly, great grasping skeletal hands burst forth from the ground all around us. The things that emerged now from the soil were unlike the small, individually-weak things we had been facing. The skeletal warriors that crawled forth from the earth were fully seven feet tall, clad in the rotted armor of dead soldiers of ages past. In their bony hands were ancient blades, and metal shields pockmarked by the ages. Their red pinpoint eyes burned with hate, and they strode forth from their graves with none of the clumsy stupidity of their lesser kin.

"Stalfos," I said haltingly as the creatures emerged. "This is bad..."

Worse was to come. The graveyard began to be suffused with pale, insubstantial light, stronger than the moon's and more sinister. It flickered, sickly and unnatural, illuminating the smoking pits and crumbling headstones. From the earth began to emerge spectral forms, like tattered cloaks blowing in the wind, empty of body yet hatefully alive, alien yellow eyes glittering out from under the black hoods. Each ghost bore with it a lantern filled with nauseous purple flame that burned like no proper fire should. They emerged swirling from the earth, and passed heedlessly around us, their ghostly tittering like the sighing wind. These ghosts flew past the gate with ease, fanning out into the city to wreak havoc in spite of our designs.

Just when I thought that things could get no worse, my eyes were drawn to the hillside that overlooks the graveyard. High on the hill, inaccessible to all but skilled climbers, stood gaping the black cavernous maw of the Shadow Temple, the cave into which I had entered when I faced that nightmare realm. From that haunted aperture there arose again the flickering luminescence. The mouth of the cave began to pour forth the whole hideous myriad of undead monsters that lurked within the walls of the Temple: a stream, like a rushing river, of wailing ghosts, and below their floating forms vast ranks of skeletal monsters and walking corpses, a ghastly parade of the most terrible creatures the Shadow Temple could produce. The mass of Poes flew swiftly down the sides of the hill, followed more clumsily by the hordes of Stal, Redead, Gibdo, every variety of terrible monster that could be envisioned. The mass of ghosts was upon us as we stood reeling, rushing about us with wind that was born not from their ghostly bodies displacing the air, but as if from the very breath of night. It was as though our souls betrayed us.

But still, in that ghost-lit wasteland where even the light of the moon dared not tread, we stood, and the Master Sword shone like the sun. I felt it resonating with me, as if the long odds of the conflict served only to strengthen its holy power. The time to act was now, before the mass of undead took concentrated notice of us.

"NOW!" I yelled to my companions. I moved in quickly towards the nearest Stalfos, which turned to meet my aggression with silent, ageless hatred.

I struck as hard and as fast as I could, hoping to use my speed to fell the creature before its slow movements could bring it on parity with me. The Master Sword clove through the brittle bones of the monster's ribcage with ease, driven by my desperate strength. It cut through the rotten leather armor the creature wore about its midriff, and I withdrew the blade with a puff of bone-dust.

The monster raised its shield to block my strikes, and was maneuvering to swing at me when suddenly a shadowy blur was upon it. Impa moved with stunning speed and accuracy, and a fair degree of acrobatics as well. Her daggers denied her the benefit of reach that I enjoyed, but her nimble body was capable of avoiding the sword of the Stalfos long enough to strike. The daggers punched through the rotted spine, conveniently moving through the gouge that I had cut with the Master Sword, and the Stalfos fell, its top and bottom half neatly sheared apart. Zelda had advanced with her swords only to find them unnecessary.

But it was only one among many. Already more Stalfos were coming our way to investigate. Again, I felt I needed to strike first before they could ready their shields to deflect my attacks. I knew from my previous adventures that once they were readied for combat, only a sustained and tactically planned attack could get past their defenses. Such a battle would take time we didn't have.

I broke into a run and made a jumping, overhand attack at the next Stalfos who neared us. The creature raised its rusted broadsword to deflect my blow, but I had the force to slide my blade along the edge of the parrying sword, directing the slice down and to the side. The Master Sword passed cleanly through the monster's shield-arm, sending the whole bony limb clattering to the ground. The monster emitted a kind of dry, rattling hiss, the first time that night that a skeleton had made a noise. I did not know by what necromancy it produced sound from its empty skull, but I had no wish to find out.

Bereft of its ability to defend, the cunning creature attacked me with full force, swinging its ancient blade again and again. I parried with the Master Sword, but the mass of the Stalfos' heavy blade knocked mine aside. I blocked with my Hylian Shield, and the force made my arm go numb. I had almost forgotten how incredibly powerful the Stalfos were in spite of their decrepit, fleshless appearance.

Impa moved around me, trying to bring the wounded creature down, but it was too wily. It ceased its attacks against me, and turned to her, swinging at the unprotected Sheikah with increasing accuracy. I struck at the monster, shattering ribs and denting plates of verdigris-encrusted armor, but the beast did not fall.

The Stalfos swung and missed Impa, but it whipped its arm to the side and struck her with the flat of the blade. The sharp edge passed uncomfortably close to her torso, and she was knocked aside from the force of the blow. She struggled to remain standing, and almost dropped to her knees.

Just then an arrow sounded, and the shaft struck the helmet of the monster. The beast turned on Zelda, who was only a short distance away. Again I used the monster's distraction to attack it, and I finally managed to cut enough of its inner bones away that its torso finally gave way and clattered to the ground. Zelda would have been defenseless against the monster.

Now our actions were drawing real attention from the undead. Those far away from us, that had not noticed our presence, seemed to be very much oblivious, and single-minded: they arose from their graves and then headed toward the gate. The gate, thankfully, was still barring their way, but it wouldn't be long before the swarms of dead either bashed it to pieces with their rotting fists, or literally formed a mountain of bone and bodies over which others could crawl. Still, those around us seemed to take notice of us and move in, slowly but surely. The steady trickle of Stalchildren were for the most part ignoring us, leaving our demise in the far more capable hands of the Stalfos warriors. It was as if there was some malevolent intelligence controlling the horde: a weak but persistent force urging them onward into the city, to prey on whatever still lived within. The low, bestial intelligence had seemingly learned that the Stalchildren posed little threat to us.

Two Stalfos were upon us. I was wholly preoccupied with one, leaving the other to Impa and Zelda's devices. I traded blows with my skeletal adversary, trying to dispatch the monster as quickly as I could without letting my guard down, for a single blow from the creature's giant blade would be crippling. The Master Sword rang out against its dented shield, and I struggled to avoid its crushing blows with footwork and a shield of my own. Finally, after tense seconds of back-and-forth struggle, I placed a well-aimed blow to the creature's neck, severing its diabolical head. The headless monster flailed angrily, but was quickly felled with a sweep across its midsection, cutting it apart.

Satisfied, I turned to face the other monster. Impa had been doing her best, but ironically, the Sage of Shadow was ill-suited to battling these creatures of darkness. Her blades needed a body that bled, a foe whose skin could be hewn and who felt pain and fear. Her deft avoidance of the monster's blows had kept her safe, but her attacks either did an insubstantial amount of damage or were deflected by the monster's shield and armor. Zelda was wisely staying away from the creature's reach, preoccupied as it was by Impa's ministrations, and was pelting the creature with arrows. The shafts were aimed for the most solid parts of the creature's skeletal body, but those that were not protected with thick armor were of little consequence. Arrows cracked and splintered against the steel helmet of the monster, shunted off its metal pauldrons, or stuck harmlessly in its leather armor. Her frustration was boiling.

"DAMN IT, WORK!" I heard her yell over the sound of combat, though I didn't know then to what she was referring. She drew back a shaft and held it, burning with anger, and as if in response, the arrow burst into dazzling light, beating back the ghostly luminescence that saturated the graveyard. With a shout she unleashed the arrow directly into the Stalfos' skull, blasting into the creature's empty eye sockets, directly into the flickering red light that signaled its malignant animation. The creature gave a creaking roar and swung around wildly, flailing blindly with its dangerous sword. I took the chance to step in and finish the monster with an easy hacking blow through its ribcage. The monster collapsed.

"Finally!" Zelda said triumphantly. "My magic..."

Impa turned in amazement. "Light Arrows? But only..."

Before she could finish more Stalfos were upon us. This time the situation was dire. Three were coming for us, and moreover, the Poes that had been previously ignoring us as they flew overhead were stopping to watch the battle, impishly cackling as the clanking skeletal monsters lumbered towards us.

There was no way that we could hope to defeat these monsters one-for-one, so I decided that I would try to hold their attention. I struck hard and fast at the center Stalfos, bashing past its guard and striking home, bits of severed ribs clattering around me. The Stalfos regained its footing and deflected my sword with its shield. The other two closed in around me. I heard Zelda gasp, but I couldn't see her. I struck again at the wounded one, hoping to finish it off, but its defenses were too strong. It counterattacked, and I dodged one rusted sword only to find myself in the path of another monster's blade. I barely avoided their strikes, the blades for all their antiquity possessing deadly edges that cut through cloth and nicked my flesh. I raised my shield, but the force of the three Stalfos' blades knocked it to the side, and I stumbled. One of the Stalfos' blades slammed into my unprotected back, and it sent me sprawling. I could tell that a seeping wound had been opened, and I was only thankful that the sword had cut rather than pierced.

Blades clanged around me, and I struggled to regain parity with the monsters. I was reeling, but I saw the dilapidated form of the monster that I had hurt, and I rushed for it---better to take one down than to merely wound several. Finally my blade struck true, piercing upward into the monster's crushed ribcage, cutting the armor and bone, rending the beast asunder. As I wrenched my sword out I swung my shield around to block the two remaining Stalfos' attacks, and pain shot through my arm as I deflected their savage blows.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw bright light, and suddenly the light was flying through space and slamming into the monsters before me. Zelda unleashed shaft after shaft into the monsters, each one burning brightly with light too pure for this world. The monsters emitted a grating scream, and turned towards Zelda. Breathing hard, I struck at their backs, but I couldn't get their attention. They stumbled towards her, swords raised.

Zelda fired accurately into the head of one of the Stalfos, and as the arrow punctured its brittle skull, the light of the holy bolt seemed to snuff out the darkness that brought the skeletal being to life. The skull exploded in a burst of sunlight and the monster collapsed, its bones coming undone and clattering to the ground, now only an inanimate skeleton. Impa took after the other monster, seeing the source of their power. She made a flying leap up to the height of the towering beast, stabbing her daggers deep into the creature's eye sockets. The force of her jump tore them lose from the skull with a shower of bone, and the Stalfos staggered. Running up from behind, I tore into it, the Master Sword carving it in half.

I stood over the broken bones of the monsters, breathing hard. If the Stalfos kept coming at this rate, we couldn't last long. Suddenly there was a rushing, swooping sound and a crushing pain in my head. I stumbled to the ground and pushed myself up again, my head swimming for a moment. I saw floating above me the spectral cloaked form of a laughing Poe, swinging its ghostly lantern around. Somehow these creatures could act upon the material world in spite of their insubstantial nature. It ducked and swooped again, but midway through its flight, it burst into radiance and its cackle turned into a death wail. Zelda's Light Arrow flew straight through the monster as if it were passing through soft cloth, but the light did its work, and the ghost's lantern fell to the ground with a shattering crash.

This only attracted more Poes to the scene. We got to work on them. Zelda's holy arrows were sure-fire, Impa's knives less so. She would dodge and dart about, avoiding the Poes' ghostly lanterns, but her daggers only ripped through the monsters as though they were billowing, empty cloaks. At each failed attack, they gave a brief, evanescent tittering of laughter.

The Master Sword, of course, was more than a match for these monsters, however ephemeral their spectral flesh may have been. Guided by their flickering lanterns I swung again and again, as the incorporeal hordes rushed around the three of us. The monsters seemed only somewhat interested in causing us harm. The creatures were doubtless accustomed to mortals greeting them with dumb fear, and the fact that we stood and fought seemed almost to intrigue them. Still, their blank, empty visages gave no indication of their motives, only the yellow orbs of their eyes twinkling with some unhallowed mirth.

Zelda's shafts still glowed brilliant in the sickly pale light, and I marveled at her seemingly limitless capacity for magic. When I had called upon the Light Arrows, in my battle with Ganondorf, it was only with great concentration and force of will that I could channel such power. My great gift was courage, not wisdom, and her wisdom clearly granted her mind the ability to perform great feats of magic. Now, in this time of dire need, her old skills were clearly resurfacing. She is, after all, the Seventh Sage, with or without the Triforce that is rightfully hers.

I tried frantically to cut my way out of what felt like a swirling wall of ghostly flesh. The Poes continued their mocking laughter. Every few seconds, one of them would swoop in to take a swipe at us. They usually missed, and when they hit, the pain was more a nuisance than a real threat. They seemed to simply be harassing us for the fun of it, as their brethren flew past them to haunt the rest of the city. Suddenly and startlingly the thought entered my mind that they were distracting us from something.

Suddenly there was a great lull, and I paused, blade upraised for a blow against one of the Poes. The vast undead swarm paused as well, the Poes retreating into the sky, the skeletal monsters around us lowering their weapons and straining their skinless heads as if listening. Impa, Zelda and I listened as well, straining our hearing to try to catch whatever cosmic emanation was catching the attention of the dead.

We needed not have strained our hearing to hear what came next. From the mouth of the Shadow Temple came a sudden and shocking sound, a hideous croaking shriek that was born of a throat alien to the sunlit world of sanity. It echoed and reverberated into the night, rolling thunderously across the silent, motionless horde of skeletons, and struck our battered trio with an almost tangible blow. We winced as if in expectation of a further attack, and steeled ourselves. Then, with terrible slowness, a horror beyond belief emerged from the gaping maw of the Shadow Temple.

It was a monster from the very depths of madness, a thing that defied all space and order in its blasphemous existence. Its rubbery, disembodied hands grasped the sides of the aperture, dragging its loathsome body forward. Its gelatinous, mottled purple mass practically oozed forth from the too-small cave. Its faceless head reared in the night sky, a mass of writhing tentacles surrounding its single eye, an orange glowing sphere fully two feet across which contained a ring of pulsating yellow pupils. It surveyed its domain with horrid malevolence, its hands, sinisterly floating below its stumps of arms, pulling its legless torso across the earth. Then, with an unholy species of levitation, it took to the air over us, rising into the blackened sky in exultation at its freedom, shrieking again with soul-chilling potency. Bongo-Bongo, nightmare made real, had emerged from my darkest memories.

We were frozen with fear, and I half expected one of us would faint or go mad. In retrospect it was fortunate that my mind did not snap in two, because of the three of us I truly had the greatest cause for horror. For Zelda and Impa it was their first time coming face to face with the darkest aberration Hyrule could contain, but for me, seeing the creature I had hoped was a horrible figment of my mind appearing with indubitable realness before me was a shock that was almost too much to bear.

As always, I could only fall back onto the primitive, martial instinct that lay at my core. My rational mind shrank from such a thing, revealing beneath it the savage drive for survival that guided me in times of great conflict. This could only be the final test, just as Volvagia had been the terrible catalyst to Darunia's ascension. This was where we would lay a great evil to rest, or be consumed by it and perish.

Formulating a plan with sheer instinct, I shouted my orders to my two partners. "Impa! Zelda! Attack its eye, it's its only weak point!"

Impa replied, "If you can get it close enough to the ground, I can try." Perhaps it was the latent Sage speaking, but Impa was showing steely courage in the face of what would drive a lesser woman insane.

"Zelda, how's your arrow supply?" I asked urgently.

"Fine," she answered.

We had no further time to talk, for the thing was among us. I had no doubt that its twisted mind was the force guiding this undead horde, and that whatever foul magic had brought that great thunderbolt down upon Kakariko had awakened it from its slumber and given it the power to raise its horde. Now in its anger it had come to crush us for daring to oppose, even briefly, its campaign of slaughter. The undead around us, who had paused when their dread master emerged, now stepped back, forming a ring around us that widened to permit the coming of the terrible beast. Bongo-Bongo was toying with us, choosing to come and destroy us personally when it could have easily sent its legion to devour us. Why, I could not say.

It swooped like a hawk towards us, coming to a hovering stop at a position over our heads. Its massive, elongated arms, with their disturbing void between the elbow and the hand, began sweeping across the battlefield, intent on crushing us.

Zelda backed away, drawing out an arrow, and drew her shaft back, the arrowhead exploding into brilliance. Sweat beaded her brow from the effort, her muscles quivered, but she aimed with dead accuracy and fired. The missile streaked across the filthy darkness and shot true, straight towards the monster's evil eye.

It struck like a lightning bolt into the creature, and it screamed, agonized and enraged. The holy light suffused the wound, like deadly poison that had coated a blade, and the monster thrashed in midair and swung its hands around. Finally dislodging the projectile, it turned on Zelda, cancerous bile leaking from the small puncture in its huge eye.

I rushed to protect her, but there was no way I could match the flying monster's speed and reach. Zelda wheeled and tried to dart to safety, but the huge hands of the monster came sweeping in from either side. I could only watch as the hands swung at Zelda, once, twice, and then finally slamming into her body, knocking her aside like a child's toy. She tumbled to the ground, and the monster's other paw scooped her up and drew her into the air.

"No! NO!" I cried helplessly. Its fist tightened around her body...I saw her beautiful face contort in horrendous agony...the monster turned toward me, holding Zelda just above me, just out of my reach, crushing her life out...mocking me...laughing...

_Was it laughing at me?!_

"NO!" I screamed again, and I swung in desperation at its body, leaping and jumping toward it frantically. It was to no avail. It was too far above me. It hovered low, holding Zelda just in front of me, just inches out of my reach. Its wounded eye gazed horribly into mine.

It was a terrible and malevolent intellect that gazed out of it...its gaze laughed at me, laughed sadistically and uproariously, leering demonically as it tortured the woman I was sworn to protect. I heard her gasps, her groans of pain, her feeble struggles in the thing's iron grip, the sound of her breath being wrung from her body. I was twisted with helpless rage...I was broken with horrible sadness and despair...and still its awful gaze grinned at me sardonically, conveying more ruthless malevolence, more diabolical sadism, than any human face could convey. Watch, it said, as I kill her before your eyes.

Then there was a dark blur, and Impa came rocketing across the monster's body, leaping through the air, her daggers drawn. She sunk them into the monster's side, and it stumbled in the air, turning away from the pain, its arm crunching into the ground. It swung about and let go of Zelda, her broken body sailing through the empty space in a graceful arc, and then landing with a terrible sound in the rough soil. Her shattered form lay deathly still.

My vision almost blurred and I saw nothing but that delicate, unmoving body resting calmly on the ground. I was running to her, ignoring all else, kneeling at her side, feeling her warm skin, frantically, feverishly, trying to hold on to her as my world crumbled.

"Zelda, come on, Zelda, stay with me..." I blurted thoughtlessly as I shook her. Her face was serene, pale, soft, unresponsive. I couldn't tell if she still breathed. "No, no...not now..."

I felt urgent hands on my shoulders. I whipped my head around wildly and Impa was there trying to get me back on my feet. Bongo-Bongo was rising into the air, scanning us, preparing an assault.

"Get up, quick!" Impa shouted.

"She can't die, she can't," I gasped, not moving.

"You've got to fight! It's going to kill us!"

"I HAVE TO SAVE HER!" I screamed hysterically.

"Listen, you've got to help me kill this thing or there'll be no saving any of us!" Impa yelled back. She shook me violently. "You can't let this end here!"

I was on my knees, hyperventilating, my mind churning, on the verge of tears. My fists clenched tightly at my sides, and I slowed my breathing. I reached for the Master Sword where it had fallen from my grip by her side. Impa pulled me to my feet.

For her. For Zelda. I had to fight.

Impa bravely approached the monster. Her agile body broke into a dash towards the hovering entity, and she made a leap into the air towards it. The monster's long arms prevented it from reaching to stop her in time, and her daggers ripped across its flesh. She had aimed for the eye, but missed. She gouged into its leathery hide, spraying vile ichor through the air. She landed gracefully and kept moving.

The thing swung clumsily around in search of her. Its hands slammed into the ground, throwing up clouds of grave dirt, and it flailed. I saw an opening, and sprinted in as it was distracted. I plunged my sword deep into its nearest hand. Its awful blood flowed forth and it shrieked in distress, whipping its disembodied hand away from me with such force that I nearly lost my grip on the blade.

Its other hand rocketed across the empty space towards me with crushing force, and I sidestepped it carefully, feeling its whistling passing. At that moment Impa appeared from out of nowhere, flying through the air with superhuman agility, and her daggers raked across the monster's body. The slice bled oily bile, and the creature grew angered. Its moving head was a difficult target, and it drew itself upward into the sky, out of our reach. I regretted not having taken the Fairy Bow from Zelda's back, remembering that it was what helped me ground the flying monster.

The creature backed up and swooped down. It brought its clenched fists slamming into the earth. Impa and I were flung aside by the sheer force of the impact. It swung its massive fists into the dirt, gouging huge tracts of loose soil from the ground, trying to deal with both of us at once. Dirt and small rocks were blasted into my face. As it had when I fought it before, it opened its hands and struck the ground with its palms, sending shock waves reverberating through my bones. One blow would mash me to pulp, and it was growing more accurate with each strike.

I dodged one slam, feeling the blast of air displaced by the blow, and again hacked at its hand as it slammed into the ground. Bongo-Bongo wavered in midair, weakened. I attacked its hand again, and it brought the other hand around towards me to crush the source of its pain.

Suddenly, Impa was flying towards the hand, intercepting it in its arc. Her daggers slashed across the appendage, and she embedded them in the palm of the beast. The hand's stroke went awry, and Bongo-Bongo flailed its limb wildly. Impa clung to her dagger, flying through the night air, tenaciously refusing to drop from the monster's hand until the moment came.

She leapt through the empty space and landed lightly on the monster's body. The beast reared and shook, but she stabbed one of her knives solidly into the monster's back to hold on. I stood dumbfounded as she, like a tiny ant clinging to a dragon, rode the great monster. She brought her second knife around the monster's head, and plunged its blade directly into the creature's dread eye.

Immediately a spray of bloody pus spewed forth from the orb, and Impa drew back her dagger. She brought it down again, piercing the membrane of the monster's oculus. The beast shrieked again and again from its unknown mouth, and it flailed its injured hands about in agony. Blindly it swung, and I had to leap to the side to dodge its flying fists. Impa struck a third time, but the monster brought its massive paws onto its back and grabbed her loathsomely. She gave a startled yelp and was wrenched off the beast's hide, helpless as a rag doll in the monster's fearsome grip. The blind creature whipped its hand around and flung Impa through the air. Her body sailed haphazardly across the graveyard, over my head, and landed with a crash in the dirt of the ground. She rolled and skidded across the soil, tumbling from the force of the toss, and finally struck a broken headstone. She lay against the stone, dazed, struggling to rise to her feet, and I was alone before the monster.

Bongo-Bongo reeled drunkenly, and slumped towards the ground, its detestable, bleeding eye now only a few feet above my head. I knew what was to be done. I rushed forward, Master Sword raised, and leapt into the creature's reach, swinging with all my strength into its fleshy head. The Master Sword struck into its shredded face, gouging deeply into its terrible physiology. Its shriek deafened me, and it rose, tossing me back off its face. I stumbled in the loose soil as the creature shuddered above me, its bleeding hands feeling blindly for me.

I was driven by desperation. There seemed only one way to end this nightmare and save Zelda, and it was to destroy the apparent source of the sea of corruption. I drew back the Master Sword once more, holding it like a massive knife, and drove it murderously into the gaping wound I had already opened. It sank deeper and deeper into the cursed flesh of the monster, finally burying itself completely in the beast's head. Ichor splashed me, but the beast finally gave one last piercing screech, quivered, and dropped its massive body to the ground with a thud. As I wrenched the Master Sword free, its loathsome form began to writhe, twist, and ultimately disintegrate: it bubbled and liquefied before my nauseated gaze, turning into a blackened and unspeakable slop that sank slowly into the unhallowed earth from whence it had come. The monster's rubbery body collapsed like a rotting corpse and issued forth a terrible stench, but it was finally gone. One of the earth's nethermost terrors had perished, and I could only pray that this was the last time it would emerge from its tomb to befoul the world of the living.

Impa groaned and stirred, seeing the last hideous moments of the thing's life. She rose to her feet and looked around. I was already rushing towards Zelda. The Stalfos that had formed a ring around us were now closing in, their thousand-year stares fixed on her broken body. I scooped her up in my weary arms and ran, ran from that diabolical horde and back towards the clearing that our battle had made.

Impa backed toward me as the skeletons closed in, and I clutched Zelda's warm, unconscious body to me in desperate protectiveness. My sword trembled in my exhausted grasp, and I feared that our actions may have been in vain. The vast skeletal horde had only paused briefly at Bongo-Bongo's destruction, and moments later had begun to lumber about again. They remained mindless killing machines, and hope of salvation died in my breast.

Then I beheld a blue radiance, a light that passed from the black-clouded heavens down past the swarms of airborne Poes, down towards the ground in a blessed column that made my heart soar. It ended on the earth before me, and I gestured to Impa, as I had to Darunia. "It is the way. Enter!"

She did not hesitate, but stepped before me into the blue beam. Then, holding Zelda tight and giving a silent prayer, I strode into the portal and was taken away into the sky, away from that graveyard of dark horrors that had been my claustrophobic prison for what had easily been several hours.

And as I began to float away into the sky I saw below me the endless mass of bone swarm over the spot I stood only seconds before.

In a flash of whiteness we were there. The cool blue lambency of the Sacred Realm greeted us. Its refreshing light washed over me, soothing my mind, drawing closed my wounds, cleansing the grime and sweat from my body. As I touched down on the platform, I laid Zelda on the cool stone below my feet. I knew not what had become of Impa, I saw and felt nothing but Zelda's innocent, fragile form.

"Come on, come on..." I pleaded desperately with no one. "Heal her...keep her here...I can't let her die..." I choked back tears. I clutched her desperately, abject despair upon me. Wracked with grief I could only hold her, hold her tight to my chest and sob as unshed tears stung my eye.

In that moment of hopelessness I felt warmth and life in her body, I felt her stir ever so feebly in my arms. I drew back, hoping against hope. A breath escaped her pursed lips. Color returned to her cheeks. Her head lolled, shook, turned toward me. Her eyes slid open, and she gazed unfocused at my face. She blinked. My mouth opened, my breath was shortened in amazement, my heart soared.

"Link...?" she whispered. I nodded, struggling to keep my composure, resisting the urge to hold her close, to kiss her, to cry tears of joy.

Her arms moved, felt my body, grasped me tenderly. I pulled her up. She spoke haltingly, but with ever more strength. "We...we won?"

"Yes, Zelda...we did."

She wrapped her arms around me, holding her head close to me, her eyes shut. She smiled and sank into the warm embrace. It was only a brief moment we had together, but at that tiny moment we were the only things in the world, the only feelings were love and relief and hope, and the past and the future were meaningless. All that mattered was her and I.

She let go, pushing herself up, breathing steadily now, her senses returning. "I can stand." I refused to let her stand on her own. I grasped her arms as I rose to my feet, I pulled her from the cold floor. She trembled but she stood, and she fell into my arms. Her head was soft on my chest, her breath warming my arms and filling me with happiness and unbounded gratitude.

As she pulled away I felt as if I had so much to say, and she as well. But we did not linger. On the opposite side of the platform on which we stood, a blurry light was growing. It wavered and began to fade, and when it receded it revealed a figure standing gracefully on the dais of the Shadow Medallion.

Zelda took a few cautious steps forward, and Impa advanced from her standing place towards the center of the platform. Finally, in a rush, Zelda and Impa met, embracing with such tenderness that I was overcome with emotion.

Tears rolled down Impa's cheeks as she clutched tightly the girl that she had not seen for seven long and guilt-ridden years. Awareness of our identity had come with her Sagehood, and the reunion was heartbreaking yet warmed my tired soul.

"Oh, Zelda...my princess..." Impa said, choked with emotion as she drew back from Zelda. "For seven wretched years I wandered Hyrule looking for a reason to keep on living. I missed you more than anything...I could never forgive myself. To know now that you are alive, and well, fighting for justice in this world..."Her misty eyes shone with pride and happiness, and she beamed with joy at the tender reunion. Zelda was shaking with emotion.

"I missed you too," she said softly. "It's been so long...I've wanted to tell you ever since we met."

"You poor thing, knowing all along who I was, with I unable to know..." Impa answered. "I'm just so glad you're okay. You've survived these seven years, ever since the day at Hyrule Castle."

The mention of that fateful day sent a discordant note into Zelda's countenance. "Link...you have to forgive him," she pleaded. "He didn't mean to take me away..."

"I know now. I know now in my heart that what Link did was right, even if it took you away from me. With Ganondorf's evil stopped, at least now I can know that even though I couldn't keep you by my side, I never truly failed you."

But...I went with him." Zelda looked away sadly, pained. "I chose to follow him. I wasn't thinking that day. I didn't realize that I was leaving behind my family, my friends, all the people who cared about me, leaving them all to grieve and blame themselves...I was so selfish...I'm so sorry."

"Zelda...you are anything but selfish. You made a choice that day, a choice to fight for what you know to be right, rather than leave it up to someone else. Your father misses you terribly. Everyone does. But all that I can tell you is that you're doing the right thing. It may be painful, but you mustn't back down. Don't worry about all the people you've left behind. Someday everything will be finally set right."

Impa turned to me, wiping the tears of happiness from her eyes. "Link, Hero of Time...I owe you my deepest debt of gratitude. Through these long months of struggle you have kept my sweet princess safe, at the risk of your very life, and no amount of thanks is worthy of you." She knelt briefly in unwarranted gratitude.

"None is needed, Impa. I'm just grateful that we've awakened you," I answered. Then a terrible realization struck me as I stood in the Sacred Realm.

"Impa...what's become of Kakariko?" I asked urgently. "I may be the Hero of Time, but I let the undead rule. Hundreds will die, and here I am in the Sacred Realm safe and sound!"

Impa looked at me with great gravity. "It's not over yet, Hero, and the burden of salvation mustn't necessarily fall on your shoulders. Come, we must return to finish what Verletz has started."

"Verletz?" Zelda asked with astonishment. "It was he...?"

"It could be none other. Only the heir of Ganondorf could bring such a terrible army to life. I sense his wicked hand in this plague; I sense Ganondorf's malevolent spirit taking hold of Verletz. This, I fear, is only the first atrocity he will commit in his quest for the Triforce."

I nodded grimly, and Impa made a strange and mystic gesture. Another blue portal opened before her. "It is a ghastly way I have decided upon, but it is the only way. Come. Let us save my city."

I stepped into the beam, with Zelda behind me. I was borne by magic away from the safety of the Sacred Realm and back into the whirling darkness of Kakariko.

As we arrived the blue haze around me cleared and we touched down back in Hyrule. We had arrived standing at the lip of the cave mouth that led to the Shadow Temple. No longer did the undead torrent continue to spill forth from it, now it stood agape in eerie silence. Below us, the horde of undead roiled mindlessly about. The gate was still the focus of their attention. It was bowed outward severely, tearing loose great chunks of masonry from its supporting walls as it was slowly but surely bashed down.

Impa, Zelda and I surveyed the macabre scene with a sense of detachment. High on the hill, looking down upon the deathly legion, I felt little fear, but more of a morbid wonderment at this mighty army of darkness. I had once thought that no such thing could ever walk the earth of Hyrule, but here it stood before me, disgorged effortlessly from the Shadow Temple. I saw really for the first time the power and majesty of the Sage of Shadow and the domain she ruled, a realm that was dark but impossible to discredit.

Impa's eyes flashed with hate in the darkness as she spoke aloud. "He dared use Ganondorf's warlock magic to raise the dead...he dared to defile the sacred Shadow that I am sworn to guard...Now I will show him the consequences of his recklessness!"

She stretched forth an arm before the black cloud of death that hung over the graveyard, and shouted with a voice that echoed throughout the charnel reaches of that dread place. "Dwellers in darkness!" she intoned. "Your true Master speaks!"

Instantly, with terrible swiftness, the vast numberless dead stopped in their tracks. In perfect unison they turned to face the source of the sound. A sea of red, glowing eyes watched us unnervingly, but I knew now that I had nothing to fear. Impa stood in the billowing fog over the graveyard, the whole multitude of skeletons and ghosts paused in their rampage and staring intently at the Sage who now ruled them.

"From the depths you were called, but it is I whom you obey. Revenants, hear my command: Go forth, and protect your city and your home! The warriors who now stand amassed on the plains beyond the walls of Kakariko: they are your enemies! Fight them, and no others, until the spell that binds you is broken and you return to your slumber. Your Sage has spoken!"

As Impa's last words faded into the darkness, the skeletal horde paused for one more brief moment, then turned, of a single mind, back toward the city. In an instant the gate to the graveyard was crushed, pummeled to pieces by ancient fists, and it fell with a terrific clang. The mass of bone and rushing ghosts poured out through the aperture, and into the city, heading straight for the great gate of Kakariko itself.

The moon, until that moment blocked by the billowing stormy cloud over the graveyard, was now visible, descending to the horizon. Dawn was not far off. Impa folded her arms in silence as the last of the massive undead army left the graveyard, leaving behind a silent, smoldering field choked with rubble and shattered bone. At last she spoke to us.

"May the gods forgive me, but it is the only chance we have. Verletz has handed me the sword with which to smite him, and I cannot reject it. With the break of dawn will come the unbinding of the spell he wove, and these beings will return to their graves to sleep once more. If the army of the Gerudo still stands then, we will resume the struggle. For now, we are safe."

* * *

The gates of Kakariko were flung wide. Before, the open gates had been a symbol of triumph. Now, they were a symbol of a nameless fear, a growing anxiety that was fed by misinformation and dark suspicion.

The order had gone out. All Gerudo were to leave at once. It had been sent by runners into the city. That had been more than an hour past. The Gerudo army, the part of it that remained outside awaiting its chance to enter, was now waiting tensely for the other half to return from the city. Puzzlingly, Gerudo had begun to return, but only in a random, feeble trickle. One, two, five at a time would come through the gates. They were as confused as the others: why were they retreating? They were still fresh, still ready to continue the conquest. Orders of Verletz himself, they were told. And his word to them was law.

"What is taking them?" Two Gerudo officers of low rank were standing guard at the gates, monitoring the slow stream of Gerudo who were leaving. "Why is it so sparse, and sporadic?"

"No idea," replied the second officer. Worryingly, only a tiny fraction of the Gerudo in the city had returned by now, when estimates said most of them would be leaving by this point. What had happened to the vast majority?

Four Gerudo soldiers came through the gates and passed the two officers. Two of the soldiers were carrying the battered body of another soldier. She was a fair-skinned Hyrulian girl, her coppery hair wildly disarrayed. She was covered in terrible gashes that even now wept drops of blood. Her armor was shredded, her shield practically splintered, lined with deep claw-like grooves. The officer noticed a hole in her leather vest that told of an arrow strike that had been blocked by the chain mail she wore, then removed. Her sword was gone from its scabbard.

"Hold it!" said the officer, beckoning the group over to the glow of the officer's torches. "What happened to her?"

One of the soldiers spoke breathlessly. "We received the order to withdraw. As we were leaving, she came staggering up to us, hurt just as you see her now. She gasped something about a terrible battle, and needing to run for our lives, and then collapsed."

"Ambushed?" asked one officer to the other.

"Those don't look like sword cuts," replied the other to her counterpart. She turned to the soldiers. "Take her to the tents of the medics, before she bleeds to death." The soldiers nodded and trundled off, quickly disappearing into the mass of soldiers waiting outside the gates.

In the darkness the officers waited for more soldiers. But none more came. An ominous silence fell like a curtain over the Gerudo army. A minute passed. No more soldiers were leaving. What...

Then suddenly, out of the darkness beyond the glow of the torches, they saw them, and each Gerudo who lived through that terrible night would never forget the sight. Bright red points of flickering light were glaring out in the darkness. Then the things entered the light, and the nightmare began. An inhuman army stalked on silent wings. A mass of small and hideous skeletons began to swarm forth. Their claws were stained red, their jaws splashed with blood, bits of cloth and flesh that was not their own clinging to their bodies. Interspersed with the horde of small skeletons were hulking armored corpses, bones in ancient plate, heaving massive blades into the air as they slavered for carnage.

The two officers stood before the open gate, paralyzed with stark fear, and before they could turn and flee they were engulfed and ripped to shreds. The mass of soldiers behind them stumbled back in mute horror, bumping into one another and going mad with panic. The great horde formed a massive spearhead and charged with unholy rage out of the gate and directly into the milling, disorganized front lines.

That was when the battle for Kakariko ended, and the slaughter began.


	17. Chapter 17

The fields ran red. In the suffocating darkness, the hills outside Kakariko were filled with the sound of crunching bone, of rending flesh and falling bodies, of teeth and claws that pierced and slew without pause or feeling. The Gerudo were screaming, _screaming _as they died in scores: the Gerudo never screamed. Now, though, their training was forgotten, the battle chants of their goddess absent from their minds, their only feeling the great and eternal adversary of humankind: fear. The wounded were trampled. Those who fled could not progress. The ground was slick with blood and bile, the mounds of sodden corpses blocking the path of advance and retreat. The soldiers at the front, mad with terror and stained with the blood of their friends, would scramble towards the back, only to be pressed forward by eager new troops, thinking that perhaps the Kakariko defenders were emerging from the city to attack, unaware of the horrible truth. The charnel fields were choked with human debris. Each skeleton that the trembling soldiers were able to slay was already caked with the blood of a half-dozen Gerudo.

However, as things were beginning to spiral into hopeless despair, the night, which was hot and thick with the killing, began to lift. The gray twilit fields grew brighter with each passing minute. The sun, avatar of Din and bringer of life, broke dazzlingly over the horizon, far out over western Hyrule Field. As the rays of the sun began to pour over the skeletal hordes, each one of the hollow monsters stopped and turned its head one final time to behold the coming dawn. It was almost as though relief and happiness was visible on the creature's faces as they, at last, returned to their slumber. Each skeleton, from the tiny Stalchildren to the hulking Stalfos warriors, collapsed, disintegrated, their bones clattering to the ground to rise no more. The Poes faded and vanished in the sunlight, their tittering laughter falling silent.

And the battered, bloody Gerudo army, with half of its sisters lying dead in the fields, fell silent as well for one vast moment, and then erupted in a great cheer. Some dropped their weapons and armor with joy, embracing their fellow fighters. Some fell to their knees and gave prayers of thanks to the Goddess for her light of salvation. All, however, knew one thing: The terrible massacre was over at last. They would face no inhuman foes again that day.

The merciful reprieve lasted only a minute. As the Gerudo prepared to return to their tents and rest at last from their struggle, a great and powerful blast pierced the tranquil dawn. A mighty horn sounded to the south, from Hyrule Field, a note that echoed through the mountains and the hills and lingered in the still air. Along the horizon, appearing from the narrow defile that was the primary road from Kakariko to Hyrule, there shined in the rising sun the glint of metal, swords and spears and steel helms, the polished barding of war-horses, the brass of the herald's trumpet. A mass of life was approaching. They Hyrulians had finally arrived.

It was still dark as the grave when Zelda and I accompanied Impa out of the haunted graveyard, back towards the sane, well-traveled roads of the civilized world. I was awed by the power of the Shadow---but I was not sorry to leave its sinister demesne.

Rather than take us through the shadows with her powers, Impa decided we should simply walk. It suited me, as I had had enough of the powers of darkness for one evening. It gave me time to think and reflect on what had happened, and how close I had come to losing Zelda. Again I wished she had never been so foolish as to accompany me on this dangerous quest, as much as I valued her companionship.

"Come," Impa said as we entered the city. "I must monitor this current struggle, and I need you to stay with me. This building here has a nice flat roof, and it's tall. I wish to look on my city and see that she is not fatally hurt," Impa said.

"But the battle...do we have to watch?"

"No, no. Just come with me to the roof, so I can keep an eye on you. I have to make sure everything is going well. The skeletons are strong, but they're not invincible. Verletz himself may be destroying them. If the Gerudo defeat the skeletons we'll have to return to the streets to resume the struggle." She exhaled sharply. I could tell the prospect of the Gerudo re-entering Kakariko was one that she dreaded.

We climbed a rusted iron ladder up the side of the tower Impa had led us to. We stood atop a red tile rooftop that I vaguely remembered from my trips to the city in my past adventure, and as she had said, from it I could see all over Kakariko and out beyond the walls. There had been higher places, the windmill and the great observation tower I had once scaled in my youth, but the tower had long since collapsed and the windmill's heights were inaccessible. The flat tiles of the roof were sturdy, and for that I was thankful.

Below us Kakariko lay sprawled, its glory tarnished by the scum of constant warfare. Smoke billowed from many points across it, but no fire burned: all light and flame had been put out at once by the great bolt of lightning that had struck the graveyard. Obviously Verletz's legion of mage-priests had been using their fire magic to great effect. I was puzzled by Vereltz's motivation in raising the army of the dead: It was so antithetical to his original plan, and antithetical to his nature in general.

Zelda turned back towards the graveyard, looking at it meditatively. She walked a few paces away from Impa and I, and I felt I should follow. Impa looked at me approvingly, and then turned back.

I stood by Zelda on the opposite end of the rooftop from Impa. Zelda looked towards the darkened, now lifeless graveyard as if remembering something.

"Are you all right?" I asked. She gave me a look. "I mean physically, are you hurt?" I asked. "You nearly...you almost died."

"It hurts," Zelda said quietly. "But I'm doing better. The Sacred Realm has a way of relieving the problems of the flesh."

"As long as you're okay. I was about to lose it, seeing you..." I hesitated. "Seeing you in such pain. So helpless."

Zelda smiled, an odd, sad smile. "It's all right. I'm okay now, and I'm glad to know you fought hard to save me. I guess I don't really make it clear as much as I should, but I can never repay you for everything you've done for me. Today was just another in a long line of selfless acts."

"I can never stop fighting for you," I said, although I wished I hadn't. I felt I had placed the burden of guilt on her. I tried to correct myself. "Of course, at the same time, you've fought so hard for me."

"We're in this together," she said.

A pale, growing light was in the air, and I knew that dawn was finally coming. It was a fitting end to our saga. At that moment, I don't know why, I wanted so badly to touch her, to feel her warm skin through her garments, to hold her and know she was real.

She looked at me sweetly, and I returned her glance. "I couldn't do it without you," I told her.

Something about what I had said unleashed a flood of emotions in her beautiful face. Before I could say or do anything she was on top of me, wrapping me up in her arms and holding her head close to my chest. She held me as if she could never stop, and although I didn't think this was the time or the place, I was only human. I hugged her back. She was alive, I was alive: we were both safe and sane and we had made it through. She released all the emotion she had been keeping back, finally saying all the things she had wanted to say, but hadn't yet had the chance.

"Link, you're so kind...you're so wonderful...you took me with you and you've kept me safe, you've fought to protect me from everything, with your own life. I'm so sorry to have...to have been such a huge..." She trailed off, still holding me tightly and rocking back and forth. "...Liability," she finished.

I rubbed my hands on her back, feeling her cold flesh slowly growing warm. "Shhhh, shh, Zelda..."

"I was so close to ruining everything. How could I have been so careless? I can't..."

"I'm just glad you're all right. You're safe. You're here with me. Nothing else matters." I didn't know what to say.

"Link..." She pulled her head away, to look at me. Her eyes were clouded against the dark sky, but they glittered with the faint starlight. She looked so vulnerable...and yet so strong, so courageous. She drew closer. Her breath was warm across my skin, teasing my nose, my lips. Her cool hands slid across my warm neck. She held me. I could only hold her back, hold her safe by my side, closer...

Her eyes slid halfway shut. Her lips nearly, so nearly, brushed against mine. A tiny sliver of distance, a tiny little slice of air placed there by fate kept our lips apart. We were so _close..._

But suddenly there was a sound like an oil-soaked rag bursting aflame. I felt a terrible sickness in my chest, a palpable omen of doom, and I was compelled to act. Zelda fell from my grasp. My hand went to the hilt of the Master Sword. I whirled around.

There, in the pale gray sky, with the rays of the first dawn lighting his form, was a figure I had come to dread. He hovered in the air, his loose white garments hanging from his body, his face veiled, his eyes piercing. It was faint, but I thought I could see a glow from his hand, a gold aura that I thought I remembered in some primal way.

"We meet again." Verletz drew closer to us as Impa turned on her heels to see him. Her hands shot to the sheaths at her sides, whipping out her black knives. Her dynamic body was poised to spring forth towards Zelda and me, to protect us.

"Don't move," he said with cool malevolence. Even though he was our greatest adversary, his command rooted me to the spot, and even Impa froze, looking at him warily.

"Two times now, you've slipped through my fingers," he said to us as he approached the rooftop. Although his outward appearance was calm, I could tell he was holding back a great rage that glittered like fire out of his amber eyes. "It certainly hasn't been easy tracking you down. The one I sent to get you has clearly failed, and it seems that you have a way of escaping me even when I intervene directly."

"We're not going with you, not now and not ever," Zelda said to him forcefully. He only smiled.

"I can see why you might think that. I have to hand it to you, you are worthy fighters and you seem to be very lucky. But I think I've learned since last time." Verletz's tone became serious. "Don't be suicidal. You can't run forever."

From the field beyond Kakariko's walls I heard a great shout rise up. It was a cry of relief and jubilance, bursting from a thousand throats. We all turned to see, and we saw an ocean of bone tumbling to the ground as the rays of the dawn struck the skeleton army.

Verletz offered what might have been considered a warm smile, but I could see the cold malice in it. "Your advantage is lost. I don't know how you took control of that skeleton army, but now it's gone. You can't possibly escape now. The army _will_ move in again and it _will_ take the city. Even if you flee from me here, there's nowhere for you to run to."

"Do you know why you act the way you do?" Impa asked pointedly, while at the same time both approaching Verletz cautiously and moving toward Zelda and myself. Verletz backed in midair away from her and, ominously, toward us. I wanted desperately to move toward Zelda, to protect her, but I still couldn't get my legs to respond. Every instinct told me that to move was to die.

"What are you talking about?" Verletz inquired.

"Do you know who you're channeling? To whom you owe your whole existence? You are acting on the desires of another man, who came before you. He thought he could rule the world, but he was a coward and a fool. His arrogance was his downfall. Continue, and his fate will be your own."

Verletz scoffed. "My will is my own. I won't bow to fate."

"There is no escaping destiny," Impa said darkly.

"Enough of this," he replied angrily. "I've given you your chance." Then, suddenly, in a flash of fire he was gone.

Zelda let out a yelp. I felt heat behind me, and suddenly he was there. His hand darted out across empty space, knocking me aside, then clasping firmly on Zelda's shoulder. I stumbled. He clutched her, eyes blazing demonically, as if he was touching a conduit of pure power. He prepared to grab her and teleport away.

In a flash, in a blinding instant too quick to see, there was Impa's dark form interposed between Zelda and myself. Her black blades whistled through the air with speed even Verletz had failed to appreciate. Her knife dug into his arm, knocked it back, sprayed blood across his white spotless robes. He gagged in pain and staggered in mid-air, clutching his hand to his wounded arm that leaked rivulets of blood. Impa came to a stop and bounced back, blades upraised in a challenge.

"Don't interfere, woman," he snarled, hands twitching dangerously. "This isn't worth your life."

Impa's response was to raise her dagger and spring forward, hoping to strike Verletz while he was trying to recover from his wound. She shot past us towards his white form, but Verletz was too quick. He wouldn't underestimate Impa's speed a second time; he instantly whipped his hand off of the cut and out towards Impa's arm. Clutching it he brought her whole body to a stop, the black knife arrested on its path toward his body. Then, with startling strength, his wounded arm shot into Impa's torso, dealing a violent blow. Following through with the momentum of the attack, he sent her hurling her across the roof away from him. The whole attack and counterattack lasted only a second.

"So be it," he said evenly.

Verletz's hands burst into flame, and he rushed forward past us. He swung his burning fist toward Impa, and a blast of fire exploded the roof below her feet. She was too quick, jumping to the side in a flash, and Verletz wheeled to try again. His face was calm, almost unconcerned, but Impa was grimacing with pain and exertion.

"I don't think I can..." she gasped to us disjointedly. "Back off! Get ready to r..."

But that was all she got out. At that very moment, a sound blasted across the rooftops of Kakariko, reverberated through the hills and rocks of Death Mountain, filling our ears and our minds so that we could do nothing but pause and listen to its presence. It was a mighty blast from a horn, a heralding cry.

Immediately all of us were frozen, thunderstruck. Verletz cocked his hearing towards the spot, but no further sound came. He snarled with anger. "What was that?" he asked irately.

Impa grinned sardonically. "You know exactly what it was. And now you have a choice. You can follow us through the streets while your army dies, or you can go and lead them to safety before all is lost."

Verletz paused, locked in conflict in his deepest self, his inner battle between his two minds feverish. Finally a look of great regret and fear was on his face. His real soul was ascendant. His people, his army, which he loved more than anything: it was in dire peril. For a terrible, selfish night he had left them to suffer and die, all because of that evil, all-consuming voice that led him to such wickedness. But now he could save them. The day was not yet lost. He turned briefly to Zelda and I, gave us a single, glowering look of supreme contempt, and then burst into flame and was gone.

Impa was breathing hard, nervous sweat was drying on her brow, but we were safe again. "That was too close. You've got to leave, now. I'm going to take you to where you can leave the city safely, and make for the forest near here. Follow it where I point you, and you'll come out in Hyrule Field, where you can choose your next destination. There's no time, we must make a jump." She offered us her hand. I took it, then I took Zelda's, and together we ran to the edge of the building, jumped off, and entered the shadow of another structure. And then we were falling through a tunnel of blackness, on our way out of the city at last.

* * *

As the Hyrulian Army formed ranks, their plan was all too obvious to the stunned and reeling Gerudo. The defile was the way that the Gerudo had come, it was the route by which supplies would reach them. The woody hills around here were too dense for travel. Now, they would be confined just as the Kakariko citizens had been, cut off from the protection of the main Gerudo army in Hyrule Field.

The Gerudo were exhausted and disorganized. Many among that crew were survivors of Volvagia's attack. Between the two monstrous foes, these soldiers were practically crippled with fear and despair. Now to know that they faced another great army, even an army of human flesh and blood, was the last straw. Only one person could possibly rally them, and he was nowhere to be found...

But suddenly, there appeared a human form flying over the battered Gerudo remnant, haloed by the rising sun. His features were indistinguishable in the light, but none could fail to realize who it was. His voice rang out, pure and powerful, across the battlefield, a voice that many in that army were hearing for the first time in many days.

"Children of Din!" he shouted. "You who have faced terrors greater than any other human could imagine possible, you who have followed the word of the Goddess with such faith: your leader has returned! Let this puny force that now blocks our path know that we are the conquerors of darkness, that we stand unmoved before the forces of blackest evil, and that they are as reeds in the flood before us! Let us now cut a path through them, before they have time to prepare. You must follow me into their maw, and you must know in your hearts that all those who live this day will be heroes, and all those who fall will be cradled in the arms of the Goddess, who will bless us with her fortune in this world and in the next. Gerudo, I say to you: Follow!"

And with these words each soldier's spirit soared above her broken body, her weariness was forgotten, her fear turned aside as a child's fear is dispelled by the arms of her parent. They formed ranks with ease, their feet trod the bloodstained ground, they moved forward with purpose and conviction once more.

Then the small but resolute army of the Gerudo charged forth toward the wall of Hyrulian steel, in desperation but also in fanatic devotion. Verletz in the air above them was wreathed in flame, like a falling star he streaked across the twilight sky to lead them. The Hyrulians dug in, bracing their long spears for the unexpected charge, and like an arrow striking the still surface of the lake, the Gerudo smashed their way into the girded ranks of Hyrule's soldiers.

* * *

"This is the way," Impa told us with a gesture. Outside the wooden palisades of Kakariko we stood, in the shadow of the great wall. To our west we heard the thundering charge of the Gerudo, and we knew that the chaos of battle was imminent. Now was the hour of our escape.

"Go south through the hills until you reach the forest, then keep south through the pines until they thin and you see the golden fields of Hyrule. Your journey will be long, and it must be in secret, unless you plan to move back into lands controlled by the Crown of Hyrule."

"I fear our quest leads us into enemy territory," I answered.

"Then I have something to give you," Impa said. She disappeared for a brief moment in the shadows, and Zelda and I shared a confused glance, but then she was back. She brought with her two voluminous cloaks of dark gray, which she gave to us. So large were they that when I put mine on it covered me like a shroud, and the sag of the hood hid my face.

"The clothes you wear now mark you as Sylvan Liberators, members of the resistance. If found while you wore them, you would surely be captured or slain, for even the majority of the common people of occupied Hyrule are too loyal or cowed by the Gerudo to offer aid to resistors," she explained. "May these cloaks and the shadows hide you on your journey. I cannot tell you where the next Sage you should awaken is located, and in any case you should be at least somewhat aware. I can only tell you to let your heart guide you."

Zelda laid a hand on Impa's shoulder, then embraced her deeply. "Goodbye, Impa. I'll never forget about you and I'll never be able to repay you for everything you've done for me, now and in the past."

Impa's eyes were again fogged with emotion. "It is nothing, sweet child, as long as you are safe. Remember...this is your destiny. I want to go with you all my heart, to protect you now as I could not before. But that is not the role that fate would have me play. My place is here by my people's side, protecting the Shadow from those like Verletz who would use it for wicked ends."

"I understand." Zelda nodded, smiled, and turned to go with me. We said our last goodbyes to Impa, and she, turning, vanished one last time into the shadows that were her home. With nothing more, Zelda and I turned and left Kakariko, heading into the hilly lowlands towards the pine forest that marked the barrier between there and Hyrule Field.


	18. Chapter 18

The day was breaking as we stumbled out of the forest. It had been a quick and uneventful trip through the dark wood of pine. Our footfalls were softened by the carpet of needles, and not a soul was venturing through the woods. Every now and then we had heard, muffled by the distance, the clanging sounds of pitched battle. We did our best to ignore them; that was not our fight.

It had been a long and wearying seven or so years since I last saw Hyrule Field. In the light of the new day it was golden and expansive, stretching out before me in mile after mile of harmony. This was the Hyrule of the people, the place where the vast bulk of Hyrulians lived, worked, and died. The small and peaceful towns that dotted the great plain were places of simple comforts and few worries.

When I had first found out that I was not, had never been, a Kokiri, but rather one of the mysterious Hylians, I was somewhat dismayed. Besides the fact that the Kokiri were the ones who raised me, as one of them, to know that I was never a true member of their society left me feeling disenchanted. Theirs was such a mystical, magical world. But when I ventured out into Hyrule Field, and walked its many roads, I was less sad because I knew that there was magic of a different sort to be found here.

Still, it was not a pristine world that greeted me as we broke out of the forest. On the path that lay before us I saw broken carts and wagons. Many of the fields before me lay fallow. The farmhouses were still and quiet, with or without inhabitants I couldn't say. On the horizon I could see great clouds of smoke, and sometimes tents or buildings that seemed unnatural. The war machine was there.

I reflected. This was the natural theater of war between the Gerudo and the Hyrulians. It was a vast flat space, easy for large numbers of troops to move about on. It held the great mass of the populace, and the way that populace earned its living: controlling it largely meant controlling the labor force of the country. Looking out across it, I recalled that the line between Hyrule and Gerudo ran more or less from where we were standing, down towards Lon Lon Ranch, and then back across to end near the valley that led to Gerudo Desert, a great crescent cutting across Hyrule. It struck me now how much of Hyrule had fallen. Lake Hylia was engulfed, Kokiri was completely consumed, and only with great effort had the liberation of Death Mountain and Kakariko been begun. Zora's Domain was inaccessible, the Zoras left with no way to escape.

I wondered where we would go to next. Sheik had not appeared to give us directions, nor had Impa told us of the next Sage who we would encounter. She had told me to let my heart guide me. Where did I want to go next...

Zelda broke my musing with a concerned voice. "We shouldn't stand around here. Where are we headed?"

I made a personal decision.

"Zelda...have you ever been to my home?"

"No...although I wanted to. But I never could."

"That's where we're going."

"Kokiri? Saria?"

"That's my plan. Do you have any suggestions?"

"No. That sounds fine, if we can find her."

"All right. It's to the south, I know the road well."

With that we were off. The path was well traveled, the wagon ruts deep and the earth stamped by many feet, but as we walked we encountered few. The farms we passed were either abandoned or held only a few scattered people, working silently in the fields. Even the towns we passed were quiet and subdued. I wondered if this was the way the Gerudo ran their nation, silent and suppressed, or if it was simply the strain of war that was thinning the ranks of the farmers and citizens, and leaving those that lived furtive and joyless.

At each crossroads we passed, we looked with curiosity to see where the other road led, and invariably it led towards an encampment or tent-city near the front, at least for the first part of our journey, which was near the front lines. As we traveled south, deeper into Gerudo territory, we saw more signs of life, and the machinery of war became less prevalent. Even so, it was easy to see the signs. Every now and then we would see in the distance a wagon train with supplies, bound for the front lines, or platoons of soldiers marching in lockstep towards probable death. The towns we passed now were bustling with normal sounds and goings on, but over each flew the banners of the Gerudo state, and Gerudo soldiers could be seen keeping the peace. I wondered how the Hyrulian citizens being ruled by their new masters could possibly feel about that turn of events. Mostly it occurred to me that they might resent being treated as inferiors or victims, but in the end, it mattered little which master they served. The thought was at once comforting and disconcerting.

As the midday sun shone down on us we stopped briefly to rest, traveling a bit of a ways off the beaten path to find shade in a large tree. We shared a meal of the rations which Impa had provided us. We had no desire to try and obtain food and lodging in the hamlets we passed, because even though we were inconspicuous travelers and there was no indication of tight security, a single mistake could leave us captives. At the rate we were going the journey would not be long anyway. As we ate and rested Zelda was oddly quiet, talking only a little with me about trivial things. She seemed lost in thought. I too had found myself thinking quite a bit that day, especially about her and I.

Was she thinking about the moment, the moment of relief and happiness we shared on the rooftop in the Kakariko dawn, still fresh in our minds in spite of the day's travel? Did she, like I, remember the feelings of warm bodies entwined, of the nearness and closeness, the sensation of hot breath and trembling lips? I could not deny it. I had felt something special in that precious moment, when our lips almost met, when we finally felt safe and happy after our harrowing ordeal.

As we traveled on my mind kept going back to that moment, and I couldn't help but think that Zelda's state of mind presently had much to do with that moment's outcome. How did it make her feel? To be so close to the one she admitted she loved, to almost know the touch of his lips. I could now understand her silence, her remoteness. I wondered why I hadn't sealed the embrace, finished what was meant to be. But then I always drifted back to what I had said to her in the caverns of Death Mountain, when she confessed to me her feelings and I---_how could I­_---rejected her.

"Now is not the time for love...not now." I had said this to her when all she wanted to know was that I truly did feel for her. And she...the angel...the goddess...she had forgiven me. I had been inhuman, I had done an act of blind cruelty, and I couldn't imagine why she could ever forgive me. But she did. She understood. She didn't press; she didn't try to make me give her promises. But even as I felt in my heart that I could never deny how much I loved her, at the same time I made a vow. This was not the place. There could never be true love in a time of war, a time of desperate need. I was called. I couldn't be the man she loved, the one whose thoughts and emotions gave her joy.

It wasn't her weakness that drove her to express herself. Love is not a weakness, it never is...but I couldn't, at that time, expel from my mind the notion that love would compromise my quest. I had to steel myself against horror and devastation and war: Love would get in the way. That was my reasoning. How could I have been so deluded? Then again it may have been my saving grace to be so hard and cruel. I don't know. What I did know then was that as much as I loved her, I could never tell her truly, tell her for the ages. I would carry my affection with me, it would keep me going through dark times, knowing that when this was all over, I could be with the one I loved and everything would be as should. But not then.

I was so entangled in these thoughts that when I at last turned my attention back to the journey the day was ending. We were approaching the point at which the road veered off, away from Kokiri. This was where our journey would take us away from the civilized lands of Hyrule Field, towards the great forest, over uninhabited hills and meadows. It was just as well. I had an ominous feeling traveling so close to the Gerudo we dreaded. I led Zelda off the road and towards the trees that I barely saw on the horizon.

As the sun set we made it far out into the wilds, so that the lights of the nearest town were scarcely visible. We found a small hillock that hid a little valley behind it, a hollow where we could light a fire without the light being seen for miles. There would be smoke, but it was night, and we were far from civilization. Still, we would keep it brief.

Zelda and I gathered wood and started a small fire, cooked a humble meal and ate. Zelda's mood was somewhat warmer, and we talked as we had in the old days, when we had been precocious children and had written long and involved letters. Her mind was ever sharp, and as always I deeply appreciated her company.

We talked about our lives, about our struggles and our interests. Zelda expressed her desire to know the news from her family in the royal court. I too would have liked to have had an "official" story of what was going on and how things were progressing. But Hyrule Castle and the lands under its dominion were now far away, and I doubted we would be visiting them any time soon.

I put my hand on Zelda's shoulder and gave her a comforting stroke. "I just hope you can sleep easy tonight. That...that thing...I don't know if it will ever leave my nightmares."

She smiled. "With you here, I don't have to worry about nightmares." I could tell she wanted to move closer, to be near me. I wanted that too, but I couldn't do it.

"Maybe we can rest easy now, knowing that we've destroyed it for good," I responded weakly.

"Mm." Zelda stood and took out our bedrolls, handing me mine and rolling hers out on the soft grass. I too unrolled my bag. I took off the heavy gray cloak Impa had given me and lay it on the bedroll, intending to wrap myself in it to stay warm.

Zelda sat on her bed and looked off into the distance, lost in thought. At that moment the most terrible, paradoxical thoughts were tearing through my mind. I wanted so badly, so very badly, to come close to her, to touch her and stroke her, to let her know that I was here and she was safe in my arms. But at the same time I wanted to turn away and be alone, to sit by myself and think. In the end, solitude won out, and I slunk away from the embers of the fire. Zelda must not have heard me leave. I went over to the other side of the embankment. I looked at the flickering lights of Hyrule Field, and up at the stars in the clear sky. The moon was nearly full, and its cool blue light gave the whole place a ghostly beauty.

I don't know how long I sat there gazing, but suddenly I realized I was no longer alone. I only heard her come when she dropped to the ground next to me, sliding into place on the hill to sit by my side. She was so loyal, so attached and devoted. I felt her warmth near my skin, although she respected my need for space. Still, at the time, I couldn't help but feel she was uncomfortably close.

"What's wrong?" she asked insightfully, in a clear but concerned voice.

"Nothing. I just wanted to look at the night," I replied, shifting my weight to look at her more clearly. She was pale and lovely in the moonlight.

"It's really beautiful," she said wistfully. "I've never been out here in the country, so far from the castle. This really is what you're fighting for."

"What we're fighting for. We're in this together."

"Are we?" Zelda asked, her voice spiked with feeling.

I hesitated. "Of course we are. You're the best companion I could ask for."

"That's not it, really," she answered demurely, but changed the subject. "What were you thinking about, out here by yourself?"

"Well...looking at the fields I remember how much fun it was to travel with Epona across the land," I said. "The last time I saw her was when I left her to go into the Temple of Time. I wonder what became of her."

"You told me she was one of Talon's best horses," Zelda rejoined. "I can't imagine he wouldn't go to the trouble of tracking her down and taking her back."

"I guess maybe she's still around, then. Just like last time. I wonder if I'll ever see her."

"Yeah."

After that there was silence as we looked together at the skies and the fields, the lights of humble towns and farms like a mirror to the stars in the sky. It is impossible to describe how wonderful it felt to be with her like this. But even as feelings of bliss and contentment were rising in my mind, an opposite force, a cruel and merciless force, drove me back, shook me out of my peaceful satisfaction. It's wrong. It can't happen. You can't afford to let happen. To let it take over you.

I leaned away from her. I turned my weight away. Immediately she sensed my discomfort. "Link, what's wrong?"

I asked myself: did I feel for her? Of course. I'm a human being, I'm not dead, oath or no oath. I cared for her as her protector and more and more I cared for her out of...love. I truly did. It was no use denying it. She was so beautiful, so sweet, such a wonderful companion. But it was precisely because she was my companion on this adventure that I couldn't let myself be drawn into a relationship. In another world, in another timeline perhaps, I would be a courtesan, a knight of noble birth, and I could meet her that way. I could fall for her charms; I could woo her and be wooed by her. Then our love would be pure. But this was not that world.

And even so, much of my love for her was founded on this mutual struggle. I couldn't help but feel she had _proved _herself, time and again, on this journey. Could I ever love a woman who had never been by my side in battle, who had never known the fear of death nor the exultation of victory? Would I love Zelda as much as I did if she had never come with me that day? I'd like to think that I have no prejudices in that regard, and yet...

"I...I have to try to explain," I said haltingly.

"...Explain?"

"Zelda. I _want _to tell you how much I love you." Zelda's eyes darted wider for a moment. I could tell this is what she had wanted to know all along. I continued. "I know how much you care about me. I know how perfect, how utterly wonderful, you are. But I want you to understand. I can't do this for you now. You deserve better."

"Better?" she said, incredulous. "Link, you're all I can ever ask for. I want you no matter how you are, no matter what the cost is."

"No. This isn't the time. It's not right. Zelda, I don't know. You can't understand. It isn't your fault, but you can't understand what I'm going through."

I saw to my dismay that I had made her angry, angry and upset. "What you're going through. Your hardships. Your quest. You think you can just suffer alone, refusing to accept any consolation, any love? You're like a sulking kid!"

She looked at me with such conviction and such longing as she went on. "Look, both of us now have nearly died. When I was in that monster's grasp, with the breath being squeezed out of me and everything going dark, all I could think about was that I'd never get to know you, the real you, that you'd never get to tell me how you really feel."

I had to say something. "Listen! This isn't like I'm angry for all the hardships I'm enduring and I'm refusing any love because I want to feel sorry for myself. I can't tell you how much it helps me to know that you're there, that you care for me. But right now you can't be anything more than my companion. My partner."

Zelda leaned in close. Her hand clasped my hand. Her eyes were near tears. "Can I _ever_ be anything more?" she whispered.

"I don't know."

She drew a sharp breath, eyes clenching shut for a moment as if from a physical blow. "I thought you cared. I thought you had feelings. You just want to be alone and miserable while you work." Her tone was angry, but then it softened. "I don't want you this way! I don't want you to suffer all by yourself, torturing yourself by denying your real feelings just because you think you need to be strong for me."

She tenderly placed a hand on my chest, and looked into my eyes, emotion welling up.

"I just want you to be happy," she breathed.

Then she moved in, before I could respond, and kissed me on the lips.

And I, despite myself, closed my eyes and kissed back. How could I not? This was everything I could want, right here, in my arms, pouring her heart out to me. For one moment I forgot all about my pain, about my war, my mission. It was just me and her, alone in bliss.

But then it was over. She broke away, her eyes locked with mine, so full of passion and hope and desire, threatening to brim over with tears of emotion. Her breath was taut, her arms around me, her whole being waiting in expectation.

"Zelda..." I said. "That kiss was a mistake."

She crumbled. She sank back, almost fell as if off balance. Tears burst forth and fell down her alabaster cheeks. She rose trembling to her feet and, sobbing, stole away from me. Her cries were muffled, and finally were lost as she fled from me, like she was running from the monster that I truly was.

And I? I was ruined. I was torn apart. And I too felt tears well up in my eye, I felt them fall warm down my cheek and turn cold in the night air. I cried at the moment lost, at the destruction of something so fragile and so lovely. I cried at how cruel I had been, how selfish I was, how badly I had treated the woman that I knew deep down I loved with all my heart.

There was nothing more that night. I don't even remember when and where I fell asleep, soaked with tears of agony and grief. I just wanted it all to end, to escape from this horrible torture of my own making. I was the agent of my own ruination, and I wanted desperately to make it right again, or to flee in shame and never come back.

Come the dawn I summoned my courage and approached where we had made camp. Perhaps I could say something, anything, to her. Perhaps she would deign to listen to a fool like me, to hear my plea for forgiveness, to hear my terrible sorrow and regret. Perhaps I had not annihilated completely the sacred thing that she had shown me.

But when I arrived the camp was packed up. Zelda was sitting at the edge of the camp, shouldering the burden of her supplies and mine as well. I approached her in a daze, and she rose to her feet. My mouth opened to speak, but no words would come. She turned to me, and her gaze shot across the empty space and struck me with devastating impact. She showed me all her sorrow, all her despair, all her anger and her crushing disappointment, all in that one glance: and I knew it was pointless to try to explain. She turned to leave and began to walk ahead of me, and I followed meek and mute, praying that time could heal us but wondering if it ever would. I knew only that I could never forgive myself for what I had said to her, what I had done to her.

The rest of the journey of half a day was utter misery. The going was not rough, but we went in silence. I longed to hear her voice, to know that she was still the same person I loved so much but could never tell. But she said nothing to me. Why should she? I had broken her heart, I had been callous and craven, and I was worth none of her sweet words anymore.

The only distraction I had from my inner pain was a series of strange and troubling observations I made as we neared the entrance to the forest. The sky, though mostly clear over the field, grew gray and overcast above our heads. The weather we had journeyed in had been mild, but now I felt the hints of a cold wind blowing that only grew more intense as we approached. The coldness seemed to me to come from my very soul, but I could tell that this was no trick of my weary mind. The temperature seemed to be dropping as we approached Kokiri.

Then the trees began to become more frequent. Always I had remarked in the past that as I drew near my home, the trees became more numerous, but also broader, grander, more beautiful and vital. Now, the increasingly dense forest was terrible to behold. The trees were thin, gaunt, haunted. They were pale and dry, their leaves oddly colored, and increasingly mangy and sometimes completely absent. Soon there were no leaves to be had on the trees at all, only lean skeletal branches clawing at the sky. The emaciated trees were now dense around us, and the path we had followed became more and more obscure. The ground was hard and dry.

With a start I realized we were there: we were by now standing on the threshold that separated Hyrule Field from the magic realm of Kokiri Forest. What had once been a gorgeous tunnel through the trees, a canopied walkway into the lush forest, was now a cryptic passage open to the slate-gray sky, flanked by rows of wasted trees that were gnarled into sinister shapes. And as we approached the threshold, I felt the first cold flakes of snow fall on my body.

I was completely dumbfounded. Everything I thought I had known about this destination was utterly subverted. This was a mockery...an abomination...sheer madness.

I could see Zelda looking around, wonderment and concern written on her features. Finally she spoke. "Link, what's going on?"

"I have no idea." Our struggle had been, at least temporarily, diverted by this shocking turn of events. I had no recourse but to take my first steps into my twisted homeland, my feet treading its soil for the first time in seven years. What had happened...?

We came to the first landmark. A rope bridge joined the two banks of a large valley. This was really what separated Hyrule from Kokiri proper. This was where, so long ago, Saria had waited for me, to give me her parting gift, her symbol of our friendship. It was here that I rudely snatched it from her.

"Goodbye," I had told her. "I will meet you again." Would I?

As we crossed the bridge the snow flurries grew to a constant slow drift of white shards. The snowflakes were large and soft, falling endlessly and silently down on us as we trudged onward, towards the village. The ground became coated with whiteness. Soon our boots were caked with snow.

We made a short trip in awed silence, but it didn't take long. Soon we came to the hillock where I had often looked down on my home village in the light of the afternoon after a day by myself in the woods. Now, I was looking down on an unmitigated disaster.

Everything I saw was a terrible personal tragedy. The peaceful world I had grown up in was now a wasteland in white. Every single home and structure was collapsed, smashed, burned, charred, and garlanded with a coating of cold white snow. The homes of my neighbors of my youth, the shop that supplied all our goods, everything was crushed and burned and buried. There was absolutely no movement save for the fluttering gusts of snowfall before us, no sound except for the wind. I looked and saw the path that lead away from the Kokiri village and toward the sacred grove wherein lay the Great Deku Tree. I could not bear to travel down that way, to look upon the charred, snowy splinters of what had been like my father and my deity in my youth.

As I wandered into the valley, my footsteps and Zelda's crunching in the snow, I was stunned by how thorough the destruction was, how utterly, monotonously annihilated everything was. There was no manufactured structure that still stood. I could only imagine what it had been like when the Gerudo finally decided to raze the village. Fire and screams, wanton destruction, innocent Kokiri fleeing for their lives into the forest...why had the Gerudo done this? How could they genuinely consider the Kokiri a threat? Or was it simply to show their power and ruthlessness, to send a message to the other races that might oppose them? Indeed, they had already destroyed Kokiri when they laid waste to Death Mountain and starved Kakariko into a dilapidated ruin. It was thoughtless and utterly heartbreaking. Even the little hole I had crawled through, leading to the secret glen where I discovered the Kokiri Sword, was collapsed and heaped with mounds of snow.

The snow was falling hard and fast now. With a sudden start I realized something terrible. In our dazed amazement, we had forgotten our original goal. I had forgotten why I chose to come here. The one person I had wanted to see.

I took off through the empty white streets, traveling a route I knew well from so long ago. I could hear Zelda following me, could hear her breathing hard as we ran through the snow. The cold bit at my unprotected body, but I kept on breathlessly running.

At some point, I passed what had once been my own home. I ran past it without as much as a backward glance. It only went to show how thoroughly I had been displaced. Between my first time-spanning quest and this new one, my uprooting was total. Naturally, it was destroyed like all the others. But I no longer cared.

It was not far now. Her home was close to mine.

* * *

Before arriving in Kokiri, Zelda had been sullen and sad. She was despondent, and she was naturally angry. Let Link live his own life of quiet suffering and inner anguish. He is too much of a coward to acknowledge his own feelings, to listen to his heart. Why should she waste her pity on him? But even as she thought these vindictive things, her heart ached for the love she still felt. If only he could understand! If only he would stop for a moment in his frantic, violent life and heed his own thoughts and emotions.

But now, she was in a whole new world. She had never been to Kokiri in the past. But it was obvious that it was never like this before. This was totally and completely unnatural, being contrary to every known description of the Kokiri Forest and also simply running counter to nature, to the place and the season. Nowhere in Hyrule should be snowy at this time of year. And yet here it was before her eyes. And it was not simply the snow that got to her. It was the blandness, the sterility, the enveloping coat of white powder that sought to cover up the atrocity that had been committed, the bandage that hides a fatal wound. It was the utter desolation of the place made manifest: a dead, cold, omnipresent shroud that stifled color and sound. There indeed seemed to be no specks of color in this grim place, not even themselves, wrapped in their gray cloaks and shivering in them for warmth.

As jarring and unsettling as it was for her, her mind reeled when she imagined what it was like for Link. The only comparable thing she could draw on was when she was captured by Ganondorf and forced to see what he had done to her family's castle. When she realized what had happened, she thought it was the worst pain anyone could ever experience. But this was different. Zelda could at least take comfort knowing that her home was destroyed by the bearer of the Triforce of Power, a man of unbelievable power and evil, and that in the end he was defeated, as all tyrants inevitably are. But this was something that was not the work of a lone madman making an insane bid for dominance. This was an act of unthinking, unfeeling destruction, ordered from on high by thoughtless overlords, carried out by countless droves of brutal oppressors. Zelda's home had been destroyed because the world had been engulfed entirely in the blackest evil. Link's home had been a casualty of war: a casualty hardly even worth mentioning to the world at large. Who mourned the destruction of the Kokiri's home? Who in Hyrule cared about the sundering of the ancient trees, the cruel inferno that swallowed this small place? Link cared, and now Zelda cared as well. She wanted to say something, to do something, but she had absolutely no idea what to say or to do. There were no words for the tragedy that had happened here.

Link was walking around looking at the ruins of his whole life. How horrible this all must be for him! Even though she was indeed away from her home and her place in the palace, and every now and then she missed her family and her old life, she knew it was all still there. The Kingdom of Hyrule still existed, the castle still stood: how could it be otherwise? Verletz was not the master of the entire world. But for Link, his whole, humble life here, which was all he ever really wanted, had been totally obliterated while he was frozen in time, busy taking on the task of saving the entire world.

Zelda was utterly stunned. She had no words to express her sympathy towards Link. And she couldn't have helped but notice, as they were traveling, how depressed and worried Link had been. At the time she dismissed it: his shame and despair were exactly what he deserved. Now, he was dealing with a personal catastrophe of monstrous proportions, on top of feeling the guilt and sadness of his lost love. First, his companion, whom he cared for so deeply, had ruined him with her capricious affections. And now, he was gazing on the charred and shattered ruins of his childhood. She wanted to scream.

Then Link took off, with purpose and haste. His face was desperate, and Zelda, in the panic of the moment, couldn't figure out what was compelling him. She could only chase after him, as he ran through the ruins chasing shadows of his past.

Link had told Zelda much about his humble house, in his letters, knowing that in all likelihood Zelda would never visit it. So Zelda was able to tell when they ran past it, despite its ruined state. Link didn't even break stride as he ran past the place where he had lived out the years of his peaceful life.

"Link! Isn't...isn't that...your house?" she stammered, breathless, as they passed. Link didn't even hear her.

Finally Link's run slowed as he seemed to near his destination, his breaths blasts of white fog as he panted. What he approached looked like another set of indistinct ruins. The house was small, like all the Kokiri houses. The roof was caved in and collapsed, the walls splintered and only partially standing, and the whole thing blackened, carbonized, and covered with a dusting of snow.

Link took a few unsteady steps towards the structure, as if doubting his senses. Or perhaps he didn't doubt his senses, but only wanted desperately to delude himself. He approached the silent ruins, with Zelda following at a distance. She felt detached, as if she couldn't get too close to Link, lest she be drawn into his nightmare.

What Link was approaching was the front of the house, where a few planks of the original house stood singed and buried in snow. He bent down in the snow in front of them, and Zelda gathered the courage to approach him.

What he was looking at on that small piece of wall that still stood were barely recognizable pictures. They were carved into the wood of the house. They were small, childish, simple pictures, but they were drawn by friends in the bloom of their childhood peace. Link's weathered fingers reached out and touched the charred remnants of the childhood drawings.

"Is this...her house?" Zelda whispered.

Link said nothing. He simply slumped to his knees in the snow, head bowed, hands limp at his sides. Then with a soft sob he cried in the bitter cold, his tears freezing on the snowy ground.

And it was then that Zelda's heart truly broke for him, when the weight of everything that had gone on that day, of the pain that he was going through and the pain she had precipitated on him, crashed down on her. She too fell to her knees beside him and put her arms around his shoulder, trembling.

This was Link's _home. _Her castle's walls still scorned the war and the suffering, still stood high and untarnished. But here was his cradle, his nursery and his world, burned to ashes and coated with lifeless snow. This was all he had to comfort him, all he had to cherish and protect. Now it was gone.

She had thought that when she had to flee the castle as a young girl, when Impa took her away, when she wandered the land in the guise of Sheik, that she knew what it was like to lose one's home, one's past. But Link...he left because he _had _to. He left and he was drawn into a maelstrom of violence and fractured time, ever displaced by seven years, bloodshed the only existence he knew. When it was all finally over, he returned in quiet triumph to the verdant, peaceful lands of his youth. He had fully expected to enjoy his coming of age in those woods, to catch up on the years that fate had denied him. But then, it all began again, and once more he rose to the call. Once more he wouldn't get a chance to live in peace. But now there was no forest to return to, no reward for winning the struggle. All he had wanted was a normal life, but his life had been destroyed out from under him, stolen away while he lay helpless in a chamber outside of time.

The home of his friend, his only friend, was destroyed. Saria was nowhere to be found.

Zelda felt tears at her own eyes as well, and she clutched tightly to Link and cried out in the cold, biting air. She held him as if to comfort him and comfort herself as well, trying with desperation to ease his terrible pain and absolve her own guilt that she felt.

How could she have been so selfish? She had been so selfish in her affection towards Link that she let her own feelings become more important than Link's feelings. _This _is what he meant when he said that this is not the time: not when his whole world had been destroyed, when he has re-created a world that was nothing but restless wandering and bloodshed, a time when sentiment and feeling had, literally, brought him to his knees. When he slowed down and let the reality of his situation catch up to him, he was reduced to tears. Zelda tried her best to apologize and console him. It could never be enough, but she could try her best.

She forgave him. She would never understand more clearly why he felt the way he did than at that one moment in those frozen, lifeless woods.


	19. Chapter 19

I don't know how long I stood there, in front of the ruins of Saria's house, wrapped in my own world of inconsolable grief. I couldn't see through the barrier of stinging, freezing tears in my eyes and everything felt cold and distant. But gradually I felt something warm and real, imploring me. Something in this wasteland wanted me back.

I realized slowly through a haze of pain that I had no more time to lose. The cold was real, my flesh was growing pale and lifeless from it. There were lives on the line, there was a quest and I knew the path I had to take. To stay here, blinded by grief, would be to render meaningless all the hardships I had already endured.

I shook my head. I cleared my thoughts and I stood up. I wasn't ready to relent, yet, not while there was still a chance that Saria was alive somewhere, and not while I still had my quest. And Zelda.

I cleared my vision, and she was at my side, arms wrapped around me. She had been crying. I felt her cold tears on my back. But now, she was calm, holding me, protective and nurturing. I could not be more grateful for it.

"Link?"

I put my hand on her shoulder and gently eased her away from me. She took my arm and helped me up in spite of myself, and when she saw I was standing she came in close to me again, stroking me. I relaxed in the embrace.

"Oh, Link...I..."

"What's wrong?"

She looked up at me. Her reddened, moist eyes still had traces of the sadness she clearly felt, but a faint smile was on her face, her tears more of sympathy than of sorrow. "I'm fine, Link. As long as you're okay."

"Zelda, don't worry about—"

"I understand. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything...it's cold, Link. It's so cold..."

She hugged me tight, a welter of emotions threatening to burst out of her. I hugged her just as tight, and I gathered all my strength and courage, aided by her soft, warm touch.

"I'm here, Zelda. I'm all right."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"I'm ready."

"Me too."

We parted. Her eyes were no longer sad or full of emotion. They were ready. They were ablaze with purpose. And, I found, that I could say the same.

"So. What next? Where can we go?" I looked around. "There's nowhere here that even still has a roof, and there's no timber that hasn't already been burned. I doubt I could start a fire anyway."

"I wish we could have found out more about this place before we came," said Zelda sadly. "If we had known—"

"Yeah, I mean...this isn't the sort of thing you can..." I trailed off. I was thinking hard, but Zelda interpreted it as distress and put a hand on my arm.

"Wait," I injected, causing her to back off. "We did ask someone about Kokiri before, a while ago."

"It was..." She looked off to the side in thought.

"Little Link! Darunia! We asked them," I remembered. "About a month ago, before the battle. Little Link said something about a resistance movement here."

"Oh, right! The Sylvan Liberators, or whatever," Zelda replied hopefully.

"If Saria's anywhere, it must be under their care," I said triumphantly. "That must be where the Kokiri survivors ended up. But where...?"

"He said where they were headquartered, I remember that," Zelda said pensively. "But where, specifically, I can't remember. It was a long time ago, and so much has happened."

"No, I understand. With all the things we've had on our minds. But they have to be around this area somewhere. The thing is that we don't remember where they went, and we can't stay here long. Maybe we should go after a different Sage."

I paused. Over Zelda's shoulder I saw a small cliff side. On the top of the cliff was the dense forest that surrounded Kokiri. Those tangled, bare woods ignited latent memories deep in my mind. I went back to my childhood among the Kokiri, and we had told tales of the woods atop that small cliff. All the rest of the wilderness was ours to explore, but those woods were forbidden. It was the home of monsters, the place of the Skull Kids and the forgotten temple. Those who entered were doomed...forever lost.

As I stared at the cliff I saw, and I felt with a familiar sensation of sudden movement, the landscape change around me. In a flash the trees had dry, brittle leaves; there was grass, but it was yellow and dying. The sky was no more gray, but now the empty canvas of night. The full moon shone down on a Kokiri from my memories. The houses were restored, but still there was no life in them. This was a Kokiri suffering from evil, as much as the one I had been in a moment prior.

There were monsters. I saw the sinister nest of a hiding Deku Baba, waiting for its chance to strike. I saw Skulltullas skitter over abandoned dwellings. In the pale moonlight the place seemed a carnival of madness, an abandoned world where things of darkness roamed free. It filled me with the same horror and rage that I had felt when I looked upon the snowy ruins of Kokiri.

Then suddenly I saw with my peripheral vision a small, blurry object come streaking towards me. I barely had time to turn to face it before I felt a sharp pain in my head and stumbled, off balance.

My vision swam for a moment as I drew the Master Sword almost entirely on instinct. As I shook off my disorientation I saw the source of the throbbing pain in my head. The round, shaggy silhouette of a Deku Shrub was leering at me from about twenty feet away, and at my feet were bits of shattered nut.

I knew the way to deal with the little monsters was to hide behind your shield as you charged them. But my shield was on my back, and stopping to strap it to my arm would just leave me open to get hit on the head again. I charged without the benefit of protection, hoping I could outrace the beast.

I bore down on it and saw bestial fear in its woody features. It fired another nut and I twisted to try and avoid it. It clipped my right arm where my shield would have been, but I wasn't slowed down. My sword came down on for a killing blow as I prepared to exact vengeance on the first of the many monsters that had ruined my home...

"Link, look out!"

"Zelda?"

There was a blur, and I was back. Snow was flecking my face again and after a brief moment I felt the piercing cold return to my body, as if no matter how numb I became the chill would always claw at my flesh. The sky was gray, not black, and where there used to be a full moon there was now the dim haze of a sun seen through thick clouds.

Zelda was standing beside me, looking frightened. In my hand, gripped with numb fingers, was the naked blade of the Master Sword. I gave a startled yelp and nearly dropped it.

"Zelda, what did I just do?"

"You kind of drifted off, but then you drew your sword, so fast I barely had a chance to move, and you were about to..."

"Oh no. No—not at—" I said, terrified at what might have happened.

"Not at me, like at something that wasn't there...it was a vision, wasn't it?"

"Yes. I'm sorry; I...could have killed you."

"Forget it, I wasn't in any danger. What did you see?" she asked as I put the sword away, fearful that the vision might come back.

"The answer," I said with conviction.

"The answer to...?"

"Where we need to go next," I answered. "I remember what Darunia said now. He said that the Gerudo could never penetrate the Lost Woods. So that's—"

"—That's where the Kokiri ended up. That's where Saria is," Zelda said with growing hope.

"That's the most likely place, yes," I replied. "But we need to get moving, we're not going to last long and I don't know how easy it will be to get through the woods."

"Are you even sure we can?" she asked, more out of concern than fear.

"I hope so." It wasn't reassuring in the least, but it was the only answer I could give.

"I'm going if you are," she said, moving close to me. "We can do it.'

"We can do it," I answered in kind. "Let's go."

I was about to turn to the hill, but Zelda grabbed me by the arm. "Link..."

"What?"

"Are you bleeding?"

She was looking at my face. I felt with my bare hand until I hit a cold, sticky spot on my brow. The Deku Shrub...I looked at my red fingers. These visions were getting out of hand.

"It's nothing."

"The vision?"

"Yes. You remember, the vision with the fairy?"

"Yeah."

"I guess they can hurt as easily as harm. But we knew that already...Let's go."

We climbed carefully up the snow-covered hill atop which sat the entrance to the Lost Woods. Our bare hands began to freeze, so we paused to tear off strips of our robes to bind our hands and at least help somewhat. No way could we climb the steep hill if our hands didn't work. The freezing air burned our lungs as we drew deep breaths in exhaustion, but after a few minutes of hard climbing we reached the crest of the hill I had climbed several times before, under circumstances that were warmer but no less dire.

At the top of the hill was a dense cluster of bare, black tree trunks, topped by an impenetrable tangle of clawing, skeletal branches. Looking into the mass of bare trees was like looking into the well of Kakariko. It was bottomless, a maze of trunks that faded into darkness. Each tree was like the last, there were no landmarks and the sun wasn't even visible to judge the passage of time. The leaves were gone, but it remained the Lost Woods.

"I don't like the looks of it," Zelda panted. "Do you remember the route?"

"I do, but I don't think it'll work this time. Everything's so different..."

"That's for damn sure," she answered bitterly.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "Zelda, I'm going to go into the woods to look for Saria. She's...I've told you about her," I said.

"Yes."

"She was my only friend among the Kokiri, and I left her behind when I came to the castle. I'm going to look for her until I find her or confirm that she's dead. I know she's a Sage. But this is as much a personal quest—"

"I'm going with you, Link," she said. I was afraid she'd say that.

"You can get out of here. Lay low. I saw you catch rabbits for me the morning after we fled, remember? You can live on the outskirts, meet up with me...'

"No," she said gently. "You said you needed me. And I need you. Don't forget that."

"All right," I said calmly. "Stay close to me or you could get lost."

"I won't be a burden. I promise."

I took a few steps into the skeletal forest, took one last look back at the ruins of Kokiri, and plunged into the gloom.

We walked for a few minutes in that sepulchral forest of tombstone trees. The snow filtered down through the branches, and our footsteps left tracks only for a few feet before being engulfed by the blank white ground. I don't know if it was natural, or just the lost of the Lost Woods manifesting itself. Either way, there would be no turning back.

"What are we looking for, that'll show us the way?" Zelda asked, her frozen breath fogging the silent air.

"It's nothing you can look for. You feel it, in the rhythm of the forest and the wind in the trees...I know it sounds silly, but that's how it works," I answered. "Only...there's hardly any rhythm left. It's so dead, so quiet."

We walked on.

In a few minutes more we came to a sort of clearing in the monotonous trees. Looking around, I could tell we were deep in the Lost Woods—in all directions, there was nothing but tree after identical tree, between them nothing but spectral snow, fading quickly into empty haze. It was like walking through the underworld, it was so quiet and cold. I felt my limbs freezing. We had been out in the deathly cold for nearly an hour now, and we were certainly feeling the effects. I kept a close eye on Zelda, who was shivering by my side as we stopped in the clearing, watching for signs of hypothermia. We were both suffering as we began the slow trip into icy death, and the clock was ticking.

"What now?" she breathed.

"Wait," I said. We paused, silent, and listened. There was only the nearly inaudible soft pitter-patter of snowflakes landing. But underneath it all, I could feel something, something older than me that had been with me all my life. Although I was never a true Kokiri, I was a child of the forest. I could feel—somehow—the forest's wishes. As Darunia had said, there was no intelligence in the forest, but it had a will, an essence, that I could feel in my bones. There's no other way to describe it, but I just prayed that it wouldn't lead me astray.

"That way," I pointed, and set off without a second thought. Hesitation only meant more time freezing. Zelda said nothing, trusting my instinct.

We pressed on. The maddening thing was that there was no way to tell if we were getting closer or just going further toward oblivion. Every inch was interchangeable—a step in any direction the same as any other—except for that faint, humming intuition that pointed me forward. We changed course several times, each time Zelda following me soundlessly, conserving her strength, saving her breath.

It was another hour of cold before we broke into another clearing. It might as well have been the first clearing we had entered, but anything other than tree after monotone tree was a welcome sight.

My jaw was quivering uncontrollably now, and I couldn't feel my fingers at all. My steps were dull and leaden, each breath burning with the cold. I stopped in the clearing, struggling to hold on to that ephemeral sense of direction that had, presumably, been guiding us towards our goal.

Zelda was in as bad shape as I. Her lips were trembling and turning blue, her body shaking from exhaustion and cold. Her eyes were dull, looking ahead practically without seeing. As I slowed and stopped, she staggered a little and came up next to me.

"We're close. We have to be," I said quietly. She leaned against me and pulled close, sharing our warmth.

"I...can we rest, Link? Just for a minute...I'm so tired..."

"No. We can't stop. We'll freeze if we stop." She was already struggling to stay standing.

"I...I can't..." She swayed a few feet from me.

"Come on. Stay with me," I said desperately.

"Your...sword. I must see its steel...lets me...know I'm alive..." Zelda's head lolled and I shook her gently.

"Zelda, you're slipping into delirium. You've got to concentrate on staying up..."

"The sword. Please..."

Helplessly, I drew the Master Sword. Its cold blade shone in the dim light of the forest, as snow drifted around its keen edges. Zelda's reflection in the sword was like death. Then I saw the eyes behind her, glimmering on the steel of the Master Sword. I felt them like knives. They were red, sinister eyes, the eyes of predators, emerging from the gloom of the snowy forest. The forms of the creatures were nearly invisible in the whiteness. As they approached the clearing I could see them on all sides, surrounding us without a sound. Slender, lupine forms, covered in fur of the purest snow-white, impossible to see but for their red, hungry eyes.

White Wolfos. Stronger and faster than the arboreal variety, silent, cunning, they lived in the harshest of environments and were honed to kill for their survival.

"Zelda. Stay calm," I said to her. "Put your back to me and keep it like that. Whatever we do, don't show our backs to them." I heard the creak of her bow as she nocked a shaft, murmuring. "And stay with me! Feel the blood pounding in your veins. Stay alive..."

I counted a half-dozen of them, maybe more. As I said, they were like the snow itself, and it was hard enough telling one from another, let alone how many total there were. They made no sound, not even a low, communicative howl, as they circled us. They were waiting, watching.

With cold fear sitting in my guts, I lost my sense of direction. I wanted to keep moving, hope that we could scare them off by looking dangerous and not freezing up, but I had no idea where to go to. I tried to recapture it, but as soon as I let my mind drift I felt their piercing eyes on me and was drawn back into the tense stand-off. We stood, back to back in the clearing, snowflakes dusting our taut arms. Someone was going to have to strike first.

It might as well be us.

"Take aim," I said in a voice cold as the snows around us.

"They're not..."

"They're going to. Strike true."

I took one backwards glance, and saw icy fear paint Zelda's visage. The fear of death was on her soul and it was time to fight or perish. I heard the whisper of her arrow in flight. There was a wet impact and a howl. Then there were white blurs in flight all around us, and I plunged into instinct and blood.

The first came straight at me, head-on towards my neck, and I was ready with my blade. Without my shield strapped on, I had no way to stop them save their instant death. I let the Master Sword cut through the wolf's shoulder, slipping the blade between the joints as I cut towards the heart, aided by its own momentum. In a flash my arms and chest were splattered with steaming red blood, and I saw its jaws writhe as I tossed it aside.

But no sooner had I dropped the first than a second came charging in low, going for my calves to drag me down. I twisted to avoid its wrenching jaws as they came down near my leg, moving just in time to keep it from locking its teeth into my flesh. It snapped again, and again, each time with a resounding clack and a harsh, truncated bark, and each time I just managed to get my legs out of its way. I felt the warmth of Zelda's body leave my back, but I could spare no more thought towards her.

I swiped at the wolf below me with my sword, crashing the tip of the blade into its muzzle as it came for me. Blood flicked off the end of my blade and spattered the snow, and it reared back on its haunches, away from the pain, and fell backward, its shattered jaw tearing bloodily. I could only hope that meant it was done for the moment.

Then in a flash I was facedown on the snow, with a crushing weight on my back. Another one had tackled me from behind. Its jaws locked around the back of my neck, and I felt deadly, killing pressure.

I struggled with a desperate fury, waiting at any second to feel my vertebrae shatter. I tried and tried to roll over, so I could get at the monster, but struggling only tore my flesh harder. If it hadn't pierced my jugular, and hadn't hit any nerves, and stopped thrashing me... My vision was swimming from the whiplash and my head throbbed from the side-to-side thrashing.

In what might have been the closing seconds of my life I flipped the Master Sword in my hand backward, and thrust toward my back at the unseen wolf, praying that it would strike something, anything.

I heard a yelp and felt the pressure on my neck relax. Instantly, I rolled to my left, and as I did so I clenched my right fist and elbowed whatever I had stabbed with all of my strength. I knocked the wolf's skull to the side and it let go of my neck, taking an upsetting amount of my skin with it as it tumbled, but it was off. My sword had stabbed the base of its skull and was quite a few inches in, so with any luck it was as paralyzed as I almost was.

No such luck. As I sat up and tried to get to my feet it staggered but did not fall, and with a savage growl it lunged towards my throat, its jaws bearing down on the _other _side of my neck. Both my hands shot forward in defense as I sank to one knee and braced for impact, and the Master Sword drew a shallow cut along its torso. But my numb, blood-slick hands lost their grip on the blade and it fell backwards, over my shoulder, as the wolf crashed into my body.

Both of my bare hands gripped its furry neck tightly as I struggled to keep its frothing jaws away from my neck. Its claws sank into my arms and shoulders, tearing through the cloth like it were nothing, and flicked scarlet droplets to the ground. I crushed with all my strength on its neck, but its muscles were like iron, and my strength was failing against its savage fortitude. Its leering jaws drew closer to my neck as I tired and failed to choke the life out of it. Only one chance...

In a sudden reversal, with my legs uncoiling to give me strength, I thrust my head towards the side of its neck, my mouth agape. I pushed its solid body back as I sunk my open mouth into the thick fur of its neck. I pressed as deep as I could, until I was sure I was hitting flesh. Then I clamped down with all my might, and tore. I tore and tore, with my neck muscles straining, until I heard and felt the sickening wet sound of tearing meat. Blood gushed into my eyes and I heard a lugubrious howl and a gurgling wheeze, and I felt myself falling forward on top of the wolf. I shook my head as I felt pulses of hot blood spurting onto my face and hands, and I cleared my vision in time to see it spasm and die, its neck torn apart and its veins severed. I spat and coughed on the salty wolf blood and fell back, half-dazed, feeling for my sword.

I rolled over onto my side and pushed myself to my knees, and then to my feet. My vision still blurry from the trauma of the shaking and the blinding spray of blood, I half-saw the wounded wolf circling me, trailing blood from its mangled face. I located my sword and swooped down to pick it up, as it lunged, claws out, towards me. It caught my legs as I slid on the blood-slick snow towards my weapon, and I felt its hot breath as its claws tore at my thighs. My hands clasped the Master Sword once more.

Without thinking I brought the sword hilt-first down onto the source of the pain, and before I knew what I was doing, the steel hilt crushed and shattered the top of its skull with a sickening, bloody crunch. Its eyes rolled into its head, and instinctively I pulled the hilt back and brought it crashing down again. A disgusting burst of blood and brain, and it collapsed, its head completely caved in. I reeled and fell back, trying once more to finally stand.

I wiped my bloody face with an equally bloody hand and saw clearly again. I couldn't feel any of the claw-wounds, and my savaged neck was only a dull throb even though I could feel the blood trickle out of the wound. I didn't know if it was the cold or the frenzy of battle, but I could barely feel anything at all. The Master Sword was like dead weight in my hand, and although my legs trembled, I couldn't feel the exhaustion and bloody wounds that made them do so. I looked around.

"Zelda!"

She was some distance away. Near the edge of the clearing was one wolf, dying with a clean shot through the heart. At her feet was another, its throat slashed, bleeding out its life in the snow. The third was nipping at her heels. Her bow was in one hand, the shorter of her two blades was in the other.

I stumbled as I tried to get to her, nearly slipping on the bloody slush at my feet. Zelda dodged, dodged again, and slashed at the wolf's face with her keen blade, cutting across its scalp. Whether by design or by happy accident, it was a brilliant tactic: blood soon flowed across its eyes, and it shook its hairy head to be rid of it.

Zelda, seeing her chance, whipped her foot around and sent it solidly across the wolf's jaw. Her strength surprised me as much as it. Its head whipped to the side and it stumbled, fell, and rolled over like a trained lapdog, kicking its hind legs wildly to get back up. As it struggled, Zelda plunged the tip of her blade through the beast's throat until it quivered and stopped moving. It was then that I reached her side, surrounded by three dead Wolfols and leaving behind three more in my wake. I had counted six...

"Are you—" I began, gasping in painful gulps of the frigid air.

"It caught the front of my leg, but shallow," she gasped, indicating a bloody bite on her right shin.

"All right," I said with incredible relief, my breathing beginning to return to normal. "We have to get out of here. There could be more where they came..."

"Link...I can feel it. The cold, the blood...The wolf at the door...I'm dying."

"What? No, no..." My mind began to shut down in sheer terror. "No..."

Then Zelda fell into my arms, and did not move.

"S...s-said I wouldn't be a burden..." she said feebly.

"Hush, save your energy."

"If they come again...l-leave m..."

"No."

I had to get my bearings. Fighting had been completely disorienting, and the trail was almost totally lost. Zelda was limp in my arms. I could feel her heart beating against my chest. It was so slow, so faint. Getting farther and farther...

I could feel it. That way. There was no reason not to trust my instinct. If the forest was going to spare our lives, so it would come to pass. If I was wrong, she would die and I would follow. Either way it was time to move.

I took off in the direction I thought was the way, going as fast as I could without jostling Zelda, her head lolling back and forth gently, slack.

Her breathing was shallow. Her eyes were growing glassy, lids half-closed, as I shielded her face from the snow. I just kept following the impulse, the half-formed intuition showing me the way towards whatever the forest was guiding me to.

I have no idea how long I kept going like that. I could feel my body shutting down in the cold, but I ignored it. I didn't care if I was dying, if my feet and hands were getting frostbitten, if I would never walk again. I just kept going, head down, cradling her, her tiny spark of warmth and life that was guttering low.

Then, at some point, I saw them. The eyes were back. My straining ears caught subtle panting and footpads through the snow. Their red eyes glittered in the gloom. I didn't bother to count how many there were this time, it didn't matter. I just kept going, not looking to either side, going straight towards the growing impulse I felt in my heart.

They were circling me, sizing me up. Was this pack the same as the one that had attacked earlier? Is that why they hesitated, aware of my strength, wondering if they should seek easier prey? Or were these wolves really in a pack at all? Were they just ghosts of the forest, monsters that moved like the wind, coming out to test me? To test my faith? My love? Was this the last trial of the Lost Woods before I reached safe haven? Or were the wolves the harbingers of our doom?

The circle tightened. I didn't care. One foot after the other, step, step, even when my feet went numb and I could only stumble, unfeeling, toward the end of this agony, in whatever form it would take.

I could see them now. There were many, so many...a great council come to watch and wait for me to fall to the ground and give up. Their eyes were on me, their cunning intelligence just waiting for me to show the slightest sign of weakness. So I gave them none. I trudged on and on, even as I felt the light go out from Zelda's eyes and her head slump against my chest.

They were preparing to make their move, and I could offer no resistance. The thought crossed my mind to end it here, to spare her and myself from being eaten alive. But there was still a chance, that they would back off, that I could somehow outrun them. So I kept going. My head was down, bent over to see the two things that mattered—Zelda and the ground ahead of me.

I only looked up when I heard the nearly-undetectable noise of a Wolfols charging...

I locked eyes with it as the bold pack member came leaping towards me. I couldn't even lift a hand to defend myself, and I braced...I was glad Zelda couldn't see what was happening...

Somehow, I was able to twist and dodge it. As it darted past me, the pack dispersed: all around me their lithe, slender forms melted away into the hazy forest on silent wings. The one that had tried to lunge at me hit the snowy ground and vanished into the woods with the rest of its pack, practically in mid-flight. Were they just toying with me?

It was only then that I took stock of my surroundings, and saw that we were there.

The massive, monolithic stones that were once covered in moss were now bare, but garlanded with snow. The crumbling stairs led up nearly fifteen feet to the huge door, which was now a wooden edifice that had not been there last I had checked. The broken pillars still stood in twin lines leading up to the temple, their jagged, broken tips covered in white. Although, like everything else in this timeline, it had changed somewhat, to me, it was unmistakable. The Forest Temple.

Then I noticed the white-clad forms that had crossbows leveled at my chest.

"What the—" I blurted.

Four small humanoid forms, wearing snow-white robes trimmed with fur, emerged from behind the pillars, each one holding a stout wooden crossbow made of white pine. From the looks of it they stood only waist-high. Like children...children that had never grown up.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" I heard a high, female-sounding voice say. The foremost white figure stepped further out from behind the cover of the pillar, though the crossbow remained trained on my body. A white scarf obscured most of her face. I took note of the fact that she spoke in the common tongue of Hyrule rather than the Kokiri language. Still, there was no disputing that if these really were just Hyrulian children, they were a hell of a long way from home.

I responded the only way I knew how. "She's hurt and we're both freezing to death. We need warm water and—"

"Hold on just one damn minute," the speaking Kokiri snapped with surprising rudeness. "You're Liberators, right?"

"Lib—uh..." I stuttered, remembering the clothes that we were wearing and who we were supposed to be pretending to be. The heavy gray cloaks that Impa had given us, it would seem, were fine enough for casual scrutiny but not quite a match for the eyes of a guard. "Yes. We are."

"Wolfols attack? How did you even get here in the first pl—"

"Listen to me," I interrupted, my voice beginning to crack with emotion. "She's unconscious. She might be dead, I can't even tell. But by the Goddess I'm not waiting around out here to find out which. Go ahead and shoot me if you're going to. I'm going in."

I started walking, slowly at first. The Kokiri looked back and forth at one another, quarrels ready and their fingers on triggers.

I walked all the way up to the first Kokiri who had been addressing me, looking down at her. She, for her part, was totally unfazed by the height difference, which I suppose was to be expected in a world where Kokiri had been at war with tall races for years. She didn't block my path, but she didn't stand aside either.

I spoke quietly in my native tongue, the lilt of the Kokiri language. _"Make up your mind."_

There was a pause. I felt my brow tighten in anger.

"_Follow me," _the Kokiri guard said, and turned to the door.

Up the stairs, one plodding, agony-wracked step at a time. My strength was gone, for we had made our destination, and my body was finally able to give up in peace. Now I felt the blood soaking into my shoes from the claw wounds on my legs. Now I felt the frozen cuts on my arms. Now, I felt like my head was about to fall off, and only tiny strands were holding it in place. Just get to the door.

I'm pretty sure the door had opened and we had made it inside before I sank to my knees and fell away into darkness.


	20. Chapter 20

I occurred to me that I had spent quite a bit of time on my journey unconscious.

I had never been driven to unconsciousness in my first journey. I had been battered and bruised, and I had contemplated collapsing from my wounds and my sleepless exhaustion after days of hard fighting, but in the end, I never did.

Was it because I knew I couldn't afford to fall unconscious in a secluded temple full of monsters? On the whole, in my current journey it'd been _safer _for me to collapse, if such a thing is possible. The human foes I have faced would not kill me where I lay, and the monsters that I faced, I faced with friends and allies fighting by my side. If I fell against Volvagia or Bongo-Bongo, at the very least I would not fall alone.

But what kind of person would I be to take comfort in such a fact? How can I pretend that if I fail, there will be others to pick up the pieces?

No, I'd been reckless, cutting towards my goal without thinking of the consequences to myself and to others. I led two friends down the side of a mountain into the scene of a massacre, to face the wrath of an ancient dragon. I took two friends with me to the heart of darkness in Kakariko to fight against an endless tide of the walking dead, instead of...protecting them. Protecting innocent people, helping them evacuate. Surely the Gerudo army would have cooperated, knowing that an undead plague was taking over the city. I rushed headlong to the source of the problem while innocent people, soldiers and guerillas alike, died in ways too horrible to visualize. Instead of thinking of others.

Instead of being a hero.

And now, where am I?

My scattered impressions gathered up and became coherent thought once more. Feeling and impression return before memory, as is the way of one returning to consciousness. I was lying on my side. And I was in pain.

Wake up. No more time.

The wolves are at the door...

My eye opened wide, trying to take in everything. I'm in the Temple. I'm with the Kokiri. The wolves. The battle. The blood. I knew this, and the knowledge could not let me rest.

I rose from my convalescence. I was lying on a bunk in a dark stone room. The last time I was in such as state, they had finished grafting skin over the bloody hole where my eye used to be. This time, it's nothing so dire, just potential paralysis, blood loss, and almost certain frostbite.

My legs felt like they were on fire. I could feel the pressure of bandages around them, but the fact that the pressure made the wounds burn with pain told me that I had not been out long enough for my body to become used to it. My arms were likewise throbbing with the pain of pressure on wounds. I inspected. The bandages were bloody, but dry: nothing fresh. Good enough. I sat up.

My neck felt stiff and supplied a dull, constant, hollow pain. It was the kind of punishing, lingering pain that I had learned to ignore. I could move my whole body, I wasn't crippled. Good enough. I stood.

My fingers on both hands were wrapped in gauze and cloth. I was able, painfully, to wiggle them in the cocoon of cotton that bound them like a mitten. That's okay. Don't need them...

I started walking towards the arched entrance to the room, from which I saw a glow that suggested inhabited rooms ahead. My feet were bare, my clothes were mostly missing. I looked more like a Gibdo than anything else. There were wounds in places I hadn't even realized were wounded. Stupid of me. Should have taken better stock of my situation. Doesn't matter now.

I staggered a bit as I neared the door. My legs were so weak. My feet were bare, numb, bandaged like my fingers. Had to be frostbite. I wondered if all my toes were still there. Stay up...

I groaned and crashed into the wall with a jolt of pain. Too much blood gone, too much cold. Lightheaded. Tired. No. Can't give up. Not this time.

Movement, sound. People were coming. The light from the next room was blocked by moving shapes. The light at their back threw their features into shadow, but I knew all I needed to know. They were Kokiri. Two of them, investigating the noise.

"Hey..." I managed weakly, trying to push myself off the wall and continue.

"You...What are you doing?" one of them gasped. "You need to..."

"Nope. Going." I was able to stand again, unsteadily.

"Going where?" the second Kokiri asked incredulously. "You're going to die on your feet if you don't just rest for a..."

"No. Listen. There are two people in this place that I care at all about. Neither of them is me. Where is she?" The words leaving my mouth seemed a thousand miles away.

"Who?"

"The woman who was with me. I have to see her. You'll bring me to her."

"But..." one began.

"Now."

The two backed off. I staggered into the lit room.

Torches had coated the walls dark with smoke, and it was warm. There were more beds, lined up in rows. Some held sleeping Kokiri. I kept looking, and noticed a clump of Kokiri crowded around one of the beds.

A few noticed me as I approached, and mumbled a few surprised words. I wasn't able to listen, only look and see. They backed away and I got to the bedside.

"She's..." someone began.

"...alive," I said with weary joy.

Her breath was shallow, and she was pale, but Zelda was alive. Her skin was still pale as the snow, her lips a dull, lifeless shade. But a tiny hint of rose, like the first flower of spring, was on her cheeks.

"How long..." I started.

"An hour or so...You've been out an hour or so," answered one of the Kokiri, an orange-haired girl whose bloodstained fingers indicated that she had been working on me. "She's stabilized, but..."

I wavered on my feet, closing my eyes briefly and nearly collapsing. Just say she'll be okay, damn it...then I can pass out in peace.

"But what," I said dully.

"Frostbite. There's a chance she might lose a toe, or a finger..."

"No. Not..." I slurred drunkenly. "Not an option."

"We're doing our best," the orange-haired Kokiri said plaintively.

"You need to lie down, Mister," a third Kokiri injected. "You aren't doing too much better."

"I'm here and I'm awake. 'M not..." My head sank momentarily, but I shook it off. "There's got to be something we can...seen...it's..." My ability to make coherent thoughts ran out, and I paused to try to recollect it.

"It's possible. I've heard of the potions they use in the Hyrulian Army, for officers who are wounded. It somehow..." The Kokiri's high voices seemed to quaver and distort. I kept blinking my eyes, trying to wipe away the blurriness of my vision.

"...don't have anything like that! We would have already..."

"...can't we ask someone? Call in a favor..."

"...for these two? We don't even know..."

Their voices became a discordant burble. I could feel myself slipping away, and hated myself for it. I couldn't give up yet, not while there was still a chance to help Zelda. My mind plunged into a morass of free association, looking for something to cling to so that I could keep from falling back into black unconsciousness. The cold, forest, wolves, blood, bone, healing, temple, Kokiri, fairies...

And after that, my vision went dark. Only for a moment, I thought, only for a fraction of a second I nodded off. I didn't fall. I didn't move. But when I forced my eyes open again I found a now-familiar and yet still terrifying experience had occurred.

Of course, I was no longer among the Kokiri in the Forest Temple. Of course, my past had come up to engulf me in my moment of weakness. Why did this keep happening?

It was dark. Cold. Wet. Only a small glimmer of light, seen from far off, gave me guidance in the blackness. The walls around me were ancient, slick with grime and moisture, carved with inscrutable designs like ill omens. I was waterlogged, exhausted, barely awake. I could feel the water as if it was soaking into my bones. I was so heavy with weight, and death, as though it clung to me.

I remembered this, like a bad dream. It was one of the most terrifying memories that fate could have conjured. The Water Temple. A maze of passageways, rooms of deadly traps, the constant cold dripping of the omnipresent water. The room of endless mist, the single tree, and the crowning horror, that dark shadow of myself born of Ganondorf's malice. I hated every second of it, yet in the end it had been one of my longest trials. I spent hours trying to figure out the tricks and puzzles of the place. It assaulted my mind and my body. Often I would collapse in despair, in some cold corner of the maze, for hours at a time. I despaired of ever seeing the sun again. And now I was here again.

I rolled over onto my side, trying to clear my head. A flickering blue light was my answer.

"Hey...Link, you're okay...get up." Navi flitted around my head. "You can do this, Link."

I sat up. My head was still spinning, but it was growing clear now. I heard her soft, tinkling voice, saw her light in the darkness.

"No matter what, you can prevail. You're the Hero of Time."

I wanted to speak, but could only give a gurgling cough.

"Rest, Link. I'll keep watch." Navi flew away from me, and I sank back. It felt so good to close my eyes.

I don't know how long I was out this way, but when I opened my eyes I was laying on my side, and across a small gap in our beds, I saw Zelda's face. I was under a layer of warm blankets, warm candlelight illuminating us. It was silent, probably late at night. A basin of water between our beds reflected the shifting flame of the candle. The wretched temple of watery death was sealed safely away, many miles and many years from here, in a tiny corner of my mind that I try to keep far from my conscious thought.

"Link..." she spoke softly, her lips hardly moving, her eyes half-closed. Slowly, her arm emerged from the blankets. It reached out across the gap towards me.

I extended my arm towards hers. I grasped her now-warm hand with my bandaged one, and smiled. For a moment, she smiled back. Then, I fell into a comforting darkness, a dreamless sleep untroubled by the demons of my past or the dangers of the present, and it would be many hours before I emerged. Maybe, now, unconsciousness wasn't so bad.

* * *

My return to awareness was sudden and sharp, and for a moment I believed I had been awakened by a flash of light. But there was nothing to see. I was engulfed in darkness but undeniably awake.

I quickly realized that what had awakened me was not a flash of light, but a flash of pain. A spot on my chest stung fiercely, and there had been a loud crack. Groggy, I briefly considered the possibility that I had been struck there by lightning, before my rationality asserted itself and rejected that hypothesis.

Why was it so dark? I tried to squint. Then suddenly it occurred to me that my eye was shut, that it had not snapped open, as reflex would force it to, the moment the sound and the pain had struck me. I wiggled my nose, scrunched my face, and felt my skin sliding across something. A blindfold.

Something was gravely wrong. Deprived of my sight, I tried to feel my way through the situation and attempted to move my hand in front of me to grope. I could not move my arms. Focusing my attention on them, I determined that they were being held behind my back. A tightness on my wrists attested to bindings of some sort. The inner parts of my arms were pressed against something cold, hard, and cylindrical, like a marble pillar about two feet in diameter. The cold shaft of the stone pillar pressed against my bare back as well, and when I tried to pull myself forward, away from it, I found I could not. My shackled wrists kept me stationary against it.

Then I became aware of the ache in my knees, and sensed that the weight of my upper body was resting heavily on them. I surmised, then, that I was kneeling, with shins and arms wrapped behind me around the pillar. I could not move my legs, though whether that was because they too were bound or whether it was simply my weight pinning them in place, I could not tell.

That was the extent to which I was able to assess my situation, before the lightning struck again.

The loud crack and the flash of stinging pain on my chest, also bare, were simultaneous. My teeth clenched and I exhaled in a hiss.

"Wake up."

The voice came from in front of me, in a tone as cold and hard as the frozen ground outside the Temple.

"You and I have much to discuss. I've let you rest more than you deserve, so that you can recover your strength. You will need it."

The voice was unlike any I had heard before. I thought that it might be a Kokiri's voice, but no Kokiri could produce a voice so dire and severe. The thought crossed my mind that I might not even still be among them, but that I had been spirited away to some dreadful dungeon elsewhere.

"I am counting on you to be strong, and endure. Because if you break too easily, too quickly, there will never be enough time for me to extract everything that I wish to know from you."

The voice chilled me to the bone. There was a hint of sinister passion to it, but at the same time it was so detached, so calm and remote. A pitiless voice, as though its speaker had been hurt too many times to feel pain any longer.

"But I'm sure you will endure. They always do. They cling to the fraying strand of life, fearful of the abyss. I know."

The chilling voice paused, skillfully letting the words sink in. I was haunted by it—not by its threat, but by a strange and nearly imperceptible familiarity. It was alien, unnatural, and yet so close to someone I had heard before.

"I will ask, and you will answer. This..."—again there struck a thunderbolt of pain—"...will be your motive. For now."

My teeth were on edge, my lips parted. My mind was racing, frantic. The pain was hardly felt; I was consumed with the burning question of my tormentor's identity. A thousand possibilities whirled through my mind as I tried to match some trace of the voice I was hearing to a voice I that I knew. But it was not enough, not yet. I needed the torturer to keep talking.

At that moment I, too, felt an undeniable urge to talk, to speak out and grab hold of some agency in this exchange. I spoke the first words that came into my mind.

"What have you done with the woman, my companion?"

Laughter like a swarm of daggers filled the air. "Your little blonde whore? _That's_ who's on your mind right now?"

I could barely make out the softest of footsteps, and the direction of the voice changed accordingly as my captor seemed to pace in front of me. "Mmm. I cut her throat. She bled out like a slaughtered pig. How does that make you feel?"

A moment passed. I betrayed no hint of emotion.

"You're lying." I grunted the phrase in a monotone through clenched teeth.

Again there came the melodic laughter that seemed to slice through my ears and lacerate the darkness that engulfed me. Even more than the voice, the laughter seemed familiar. It had a disturbing innocence coming from the lips of a cold-blooded torturer.

"Ha ha, I am. Of course I am. What a waste that would be!" I felt something touching my cheek, tracing along my jawline. It felt like flesh, a finger. I knew my unseen tormentor was standing right in front of me. "Now that I know how much you care about her, I'll be sure to let you hear her screams. Perhaps you can both suffer at once, and the suffering of each will loosen the other's tongue."

"Well, I'd love to chat, but you haven't asked me anything," I responded smugly. A plan was forming in my head. If I wanted to claw back any hope, and draw out any more clues, I would have to get under my captor's skin. Upset the balance of power. Bound to a column, blind and beaten, I would have to fight back with words.

My insolent reply was rewarded with another stinging blow, this time to the side of my face. The force of the blow jerked my head sideways.

"You Gerudo spies are all the same. Your bravado sustains you through the first stages of the agony I inflict. I like that. I like to watch your confidence crumble and your willful defiance shear away to nothing."

"You still aren't asking me anything."

"Then I will ask you this." The voice hovered close to my face. "How did you find this place?"

"I knew how to get here."

I felt a faint rush of air as whoever was in front of me drew back. "Impossible. A legion of your finest scouts entered this forest years ago, and not one returned unscathed. The lucky ones were those who did not return at all. The unlucky ones stumbled out delirious, driven mad by what they had witnessed here. The Lost Woods holds no mercy for defilers like you. Did your Gerudo paymasters not tell you that you had been recruited for a suicide mission?"

The corner of my lips curled into a brief smirk. "I'm going to ask you a question, now."

I expected another blow, but none came. The footsteps stopped, as if the torturer was almost intrigued by my boldness. So I continued: "Why do you think I am a Gerudo?"

"I did not say you were a Gerudo. You are no woman, so they will never truly call you one of their own. What you are, however, is a sympathizer. Maybe they enticed you with their lies. Maybe they coerced you. I don't care. I want to know how you found this place, and why you were sent here."

I did not answer. My silence provoked a strike. This time the blow landed precisely on the spot of the first blow that had awakened me, redoubling the agony. The torturer was demonstrating impressive skill.

Still, I did not respond. This prompted a measured series of strikes, on my chest, shoulders, arms and face, raining down on me with clockwork regularity. I endured each one, waiting for my chance to continue the dialogue as an equal, refusing to speak on demand.

The beating stopped and I could hear the torturer's breathing, louder than before from the effort but clearly nowhere near exhaustion.

"Hmm. Perhaps you are the sort who will respond to a bit of flattery. Dressing in the garb of a Sylvan Liberator was an uncommonly shrewd precaution. I wonder, did you infiltrate them, and learn the secrets of the forest that way? It could not have helped you greatly. It's not as if any of our so-called champions could find the path, anyway. And although you wear their clothes, you did not disguise your face. I know the face of each and every one of those sanctimonious bastards, and you...aren't...one."

With those words, I felt a small hand grip my neck just below the chin. It jerked my head back, against the pillar. It gripped firmly, choking me slightly and uncomfortably but leaving me free to speak.

"You're right," I wheezed. "No Sylvan Liberator knows the path. I made it here because I am _not _one of them."

"_No one _knows the path," the torturer spat. I could tell that a bubble of emotion was rising in the torturer's voice. "None but my people. And you are an outsider, a foolish Hyrulian on orders from the Gerudo butchers. What is your mission?!"

"My mission is to find someone," I answered. "Someone very important."

"Ahh! Now we're getting somewhere." The hand released me, and my head slumped for a moment before I pulled it back upright, although it was tiring my neck muscles to hold it erect. "Not just a spy, but an assassin."

"I didn't say that," I responded in a measured tone.

"Fool!" snapped the voice. "Why else would you be ordered to find a specific, important person?"

"I would not expect you to understand the true reason."

I fully anticipated retribution for that response, and the torturer did not disappoint, but this time the pain was different. I was struck again on the cheek, but it was not the sharp sting of before. It was broader and duller, with the sound of flesh striking flesh. A contemptuous backhand, I believed. It could only mean that whoever was tormenting me was losing patience. Getting personal. Good.

"I _will _have the truth from you," the voice barked bitterly, making a snort of disgust. "To say that I would not understand your petty motives...It is you who cannot understand. You can never comprehend the wickedness that your overlords perpetrated against me, against us."

"Do tell."

There was a moment of silence, crackling with tension. I pictured my captor seething silently before me, stung by my nonchalance.

"I..." The voice wavered, betraying the first glimmer of weakness I had heard so far. "I am feeling indulgent. I will give you a history lesson, that you might know of the crimes that you are now accomplice to."

The torturer quickly tried to resume the air of cold superiority, but sadness was welling up below the surface. "I was so young when they came. You tall folk think of the Kokiri as children, eternally young and innocent. That's not true. But in a way, you were right. We _were_ innocent. Our lives were harmonious, our happiness untainted by your wars and your greed and your recklessness. It was all destroyed."

I knew it all too well, and I was keenly aware of the sad irony, the torturer whose pain at the destruction of the forest was identical to my own. My tormentor did not need to try and impart the grief of the Kokiri people onto my heart, for it was there already. It was painful, but I needed the unseen voice to continue. As my captor spoke the sense of familiarity grew stronger, as if the voice of the person I knew was slowly emerging like the grass with the thaw of spring.

"I had just lost someone dear to me. I could not be the leader that my people needed. I could not stop the Gerudo armies from torching my home, from slaughtering my friends. I could only help those fortunate survivors to escape from their pointless and vindictive wrath, into the woods where we would be safe."

The voice grew almost wistful. "Still...I had hope, even then. Even with my village destroyed, and the Great Deku Tree slain...I had hope that soon the butchers would leave, and the forest could grow again and heal the wounds they had left behind. But it was not to be. Like a shroud the snows came, and the spirit of the forest fell asleep, deep beneath the protective blanket of frozen death. The Gerudo banished life and vibrancy and left cold hibernation behind. Now I fear the wound will never heal. This place will not forgive the insult that you inflicted on it!"

The voice drew close, so close that I felt the heat of breath on my face as my tormentor screamed out the primal rage and bitter sorrow that was mirrored in my own heart. "THAT is your legacy! THAT is the way of the Gerudo! And YOU would come here to slay me, to finish what they could not?!"

With that final utterance, any doubt slipped away. I knew. I finally knew.

"I didn't come here to kill you. I came here to help you..."

"What..."

"...Saria."

Instantly there were hands at my throat again, but this time there was no mercy or restraint. Pain wracked me as I was viciously choked and shaken, the back of my head slamming against the pillar.

"I haven't used that name in seven years, not since that day! How...did…you...know?!"

I gasped desperately and croaked my answer. "You...said...you lost...someone...dear."

The choking stopped, and I heard a short, wracking sob. Then the sharp, lightning pain began again on my chest, over and over and over at a frantic pace, the poise and composure of before completely discarded in reckless spite, each word spoken matched with a furious blow.

"How do you know about him?! He is the only one who could have told you how to get here, told you who I am! WHAT—DID—YOU—DO—TO—HIM?!"

My chest was a mass of searing agony, and I felt a hot trickle of blood dripping down my abdomen from the onslaught. I spoke in ragged gasps. "You said...you lost him. But he...was never...lost."

"No..."

"He promised you...he would meet you again."

"How...how can you know that?"

My breathing had become smooth again, and I chuckled. "You went to all this trouble to get information out of me...and you didn't search my possessions?"

In the darkness behind the blindfold I heard retreating footsteps, and the sound of my pack being rummaged through. I knew just what I was hoping would be found, and after a few moments, I heard a shocked cry.

"This...this is..." The footsteps approached again, and I felt hands brush my skin near my forehead. Then the blindfold was yanked off, and my eye flew open, briefly dazzled by the light. My vision was blurry, and the small, slender figure in front of me was speaking in a pained, astonished whisper.

"Who...are you?"

My vision cleared, and there she was.

She was dressed, like the rest of the Kokiri, in an outfit made of snow-white fur. She was looking straight at me with wide eyes glistening with unshed tears, the irises a paler shade of blue than I remembered. Though she was still no larger than a child, hardship had etched a stoic maturity on her face where none had been evident before. And atop her head, the hair that had been a vibrant, cheerful green in the days of my youth had turned, like the whole of the forest, to a dull white flecked with shades of dark black and brown. But the superficial changes could not possibly have misled me. I had not judged wrong.

In one of her hands she clutched the small beige ocarina that I had snatched from her that day on the bridge seven years ago, that she had just retrieved from among my belongings. With the other hand, she drew a knife from her belt, and reached behind me with it, slashing through my bonds and freeing my hands. On the floor nearby, lying discarded and flecked with my blood, was the black leather riding crop she had been beating me with.

I slowly brought my aching arms forward as she, trembling, put the ocarina in my hands. "Play it," she stammered, barely containing herself. "If you really...if you really are...you'll know the song."

I knew it well. My hands shook slightly as I raised the ocarina to my lips, but once it was there, I was unperturbed. The melody came to me with practiced ease, and I played her song. The song that we shared, the song of a happier time, the song of our eternal friendship.

As the last notes faded the tears fell freely from her eyes, but on her lips was a fragile, quivering smile. "Link...you came back."

I smiled back, broadly, and for a few moments we simply gazed at each other. But unexpectedly my happiness seemed to suddenly devastate her. Her smile vanished, her eyes slammed shut and she let out a hoarse cry. She threw an arm over her face and turned away, and began to run, stumbling, wailing, away from the pillar I was kneeling before.

I gingerly rose to my feet, ignoring all the pain, calling after her. "No! Wait...why..."

She staggered, weeping, towards the far wall, but there was no door in that direction. Her outstretched hand reached the wall and she stopped, despairing, and sank to her knees, and then doubled over with her hands on the floor. I followed her as quickly as my aching legs could accommodate, seeing her tears splashing on the stone floor.

"No," she sobbed as I approached. "Don't look at me..."

"Saria..." I reached her and knelt by her, unsure.

"Don't look at what I've become, Link. How...how could I have done this to you?" Her arms gave out and curled her face to her knees. Not knowing what else to do, I put my hand on her back and gently rubbed between her shoulders.

She wept pitifully there for about a minute before she could speak again. "I...I've been twisted by bitterness, I lost myself in cruelty. I'm a monster. Y-you must...hate me."

"No," I said emphatically. Saria slowly lifted her head from the floor, and finally looked me in the eye once more. I put my other arm around her, and drew her closer.

"No matter what," I said softly, "I will always be your friend."

She crushed herself against me, and I hugged my best friend for the first time in seven long years. In that moment, it felt as though I had never left.


	21. Chapter 21

For a time-who can say how long precisely-Saria and I were locked in tender embrace, somehow both there together and also alone in our thoughts. Then she drew away abruptly, a look of panicked revelation painted on her face. "Oh no."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Your...your wife... I've got to stop him!" With no further explanation she took off down a side hall. I followed immediately, and in spite of having legs twice as long as Saria's I could only barely keep up.

We traced a breathless course through dimly lit and moss-strewn passageways, in silence but for urgent breathing and strident footfalls. Before long we were heading down a long hallway towards a closed door, from behind which emanated a male Kokiri's voice.

"I've had enough. TALK!"

Saria practically crashed through the door, turning the knob and flinging it open in a fluid motion. Within was a sight that stopped my heart for one terrible instant, only to jolt it back to life from shock.

Shackles from the ceiling bound Zelda's hands together over her head, while she rested like I had on her knees, wearing a blindfold like mine. Elegant blond locks of her hair flowed down her bare back, and the tips had been soaked crimson from the blood that oozed from where the whip had kissed. More angry red lash marks scored her naked breasts, collar and shoulders. Blood was trickling from the corners of her mouth and I could only pray that it was a wound in her mouth, and not a product of internal bleeding.

A cold nausea gripped me in the guts concurrent with a crackling rage welling up behind my eyes.

"TALK!" Screamed the Kokiri again, and in a crowning horror lashed out with a sharp knife-it could have been a razorblade-across her right cheek. Left behind was a bloody gash disfiguring her cheek and upper lip.

All rational thought left me and the red mist came down. Even though I'm sure I had been expecting to find Zelda in pain, seeing the scene before me brushed past my expectations and cast off all my own pain and weariness in a tidal wave of fury.

I leapt across the room in a single bound and grasped the wrist of the Kokiri holding the knife. He shouted in pain and surprise when I crushed his slim wrist, making him drop the razor. Then my foot came down hard on the back of his calf to crush his leg and bring him to one knee. I was on the verge of completing the takedown and nearly followed through with catching his head and snapping his neck. Instead I kicked him to the side. His crushed shin would keep him busy while I did what needed to be done.

Zelda was silent. She hadn't made a noise even when the blade cut across her beatific face, even when I shouted, even at the sounds of violence. I picked the knife off of the floor and used it to cut the leather thongs around her wrists. But rather than letting her hands fall from above her head, I supported them where they had been.

"I've got to lower your arms slowly," I said as calmly and reassuringly as I could. "If I let them down too fast the pain will be even worse as your circulation returns."

Zelda lifted her blindfolded head up towards the source of my voice, but still she didn't speak.

"Zelda...Princess..." I said nervously and pleadingly. Her only reply was a pathetic sputtering cough that served to clear her mouth of blood.

Keeping her arms stable with one hand I yanked off the blindfold with the other. Her eyes were closed and damp with moisture welling up from beneath the lids. For a moment she hesitated to open them. At first her eyes were glazed with blindness and pain but they slowly regained their lucid quality. Her blood-smeared lips croaked my name.

"Shhh, you're okay." I held her trembling hands with both of my own and gradually let them rest in her lap. She was shaking badly as I tried to take stock of her injuries and their severity.

I could only peripherally hear the conversation between Saria and the male Kokiri torturer.

"B-Boss!" He gasped, clutching his battered leg. "What the hell is the other one doing free?"

Saria did not answer so he nervously continued. "I thought by the second round this one would be ready to talk. But I still haven't gotten a word out of..."

"Get. Out." Saria said each word distinctly and with equal coldness. "Get the doctors." She spoke with a slow and repressed tone.

"As-as you wish, uh..." The male Kokiri trailed off and staggered out the door.

Zelda slumped forward into my waiting arms, still shaking like a leaf. She acted like she was too weak to take any action but speak and I was amazed she could do even that.

"Didn't tell..." she moaned. Her face was pressed on my bare chest. "Not...a word."

I stroked her hair reassuringly and then took a look at the blindfold. It looked clean, so with one hand I held the back of her head and with the other I pressed the strip of cloth onto her face, where the torturer's knife had slashed her. She whimpered at the firmness with which I held it in place. When blood soaked through and moistened my palm, I folded the cloth over and reapplied it.

It was then that I caught a glimpse, beyond Zelda back in the doorway that had brought us here, of Saria. She was standing like a pillar of regret looking not at me or at Zelda but at both of us, at the spectacle. Her cheeks were stained with dried-up tears but no more were forthcoming from her wide, pale, haunted eyes. All three of us had no more tears to shed.

Eventually Saria took a few, hesitant steps towards us but she could do nothing else nor say anything to either of us. I looked at her emotionlessly. At that moment I didn't hate her or pity her or wish she was gone.

"L...k..." Zelda sputtered. Between the blood and the muffling of the rag I could barely hear her. She looked up, straight at Saria, so suddenly I nearly lost my grip on the makeshift bandage. Zelda spoke to her and said only this.

"...why?"

With the cloth and my hand covering the right half of Zelda's face, I turned to look at Saria as well. There was a look of poignant despair there that rent my heart to see, and I realized that now we were a grim pair with whose faces bore mirrored calamities-the eyepatch hid the mark of my agony and the tattered cloth hid Zelda's.

"Don't try to talk. Just nod your head a little if this cut is the worst of what's wrong with you."

She nodded ever so slightly. "Good, is the bleeding in your mouth..."

She stirred and twitched her arms, trying to get blood back in them, nursing them back to function. She murmured, "Bit m...lip."

"Okay, okay. Did he cut you anywhere else?" I could feel strength returning to her in my arms, and the twinge of panic crept out of my voice. "Just nod, don't move your lips or your face."

She gently shook her head no. "You'll be all right. There are doctors coming. Your wounds aren't fatal by themselves." I tried to be reassuring but I felt as though I were only trying to reassure myself. "Is there anything else that's the matter, are you sick, sleep derived, thirsty..."

"Link, give her a moment. Rest." Saria's voice broke into my mind with startling presence, considering she had only spoken in a hollow flat tone.

"Drug..." Zelda mumbled. She was being careful to keep her face, and especially her lips, still. Good girl.

"What..." I began.

"He would have used a powdered herbal mixture, a sedative. It's worn off by now, it's harmless." Saria said.

I sat in silence a moment more. Then the clamor of many approaching Kokiri grew in the distance. At least six Kokiri arrived including some of the medics that had treated me earlier.

"We're here, can't have them dying before we get some ans-" came the voice that emerged from down the hall. It was the same orange-haired girl who had saved me from frostbite.

"YOU?" she cried out as she saw me.

"Tend to them, NOW!" Saria shouted with a pitch wavering on hysteria.

Medics came in and examined each of us. I let them separate Zelda and I, but Zelda clung to me when they did so. I squeezed her hand and she let go gradually.

"They're..." The orange-haired one hesitated at the prospect of re-healing me. Perhaps the irony was too strong for her.

"What." Saria's reply was barely inflected as a question as she watched the doctors attend to Zelda, applying salves and bandages to her whip-scarred form.

"Well, they're fine," the orange-haired medic said.

"They've been tortured," Saria snapped. "Ease their pain."

"I thought she'd be bleeding out because Rynoff screwed up. We patch them up when a round of torture fails but t...They can endure more, is my point. We don't need to administer..."

"Seeliya!" Saria barked. "They are NOT being tortured ever again. Fix. THEM. NOW!"

Seeliya, the orange haired medic, gave Saria a hard look and left to prepare bandages for Zelda. "That guy broke Rynoff's leg," she muttered. I felt guilty about that, realizing I had applied the sort of force I would have used on a fully grown human man.

"See to him when you're done here."

The doctors looked me over and assessed the beating Saria had given me. A mass of bruises but nothing more was my diagnosis, aside from a few cuts where the riding crop had bit deep. I waved them off. "Save it. Save it for her."

One of the healers, the one now holding the blindfold-bandage in place, reached into a bag with his other hand and pulled out moving things. They were small, black and scuttling. Eventually I worked out that they were large ants. They had huge, oversized heads with even larger, twitching jaws. I watched in confusion as he grasped the squirming insect by the head, taking care to not let the thing's jaws latch on to his thumb. He brought the insect to Zelda's face and removed the cloth.

The knife wound on her cheek and lip was clean, but deep. The medico pinched the gash tightly shut with one hand and thrust the ant's mandibles onto the wound. Zelda displayed great resilience and barely twitched as the creature bit down frantically with great force, pinching the wound shut.

Dextrously the medic pinched the creature's body and twisted it off. In the grip of death its head and jaws remained locked onto Zelda's skin. In quick succession the medic applied three more ants to the cut. By the time he was done the wound was barely bleeding and held firmly shut. All the while other doctors had been patching her up elsewhere.

Over the ant-head sutures the doctor placed a bandage around Zelda's face. The part of the bandage that touched the wound had been treated with green gel made from medicinal plants. He used strips of linen to hold the medicated bandage in place on her cheek, skillfully putting the strips over and under Zelda's eyes to avoid obscuring her vision.

I was engrossed in watching them work. Primarily out of concern for Zelda, but also in curiosity at the Kokiri medical techniques. Some of what I noticed the medics doing was basic first aid, and some of their techniques were old Kokiri tricks I was familiar with from childhood, but most of their repertoire was unfamiliar to me. Presumably I was witnessing medical techniques newly developed in the crucible of the Gerudo war. Their skill was easily a match for that of the Gorons who had hospitalled me after the battle of Death Mountain.

Saria interrupted my observation. She was at my side but she had been acting as though she was afraid to touch me, to even look at me. But she needed to speak to me.

"I finally understand," she said morosely.

"I don't hate you. You're no monster." I looked over to her, then back to Zelda. "You did what you had to."

"I finally understand why you left," she said, as though she had not heard me respond.

"What?"

"It was her. She's why you left."

I didn't know precisely what she meant. She wasn't wrong, but I suspected she was not interpreting the true complexity of the situation.

Saria put her hand gently on my hip in a gesture of compassion. "That's who those letters were from."

"Yes."

"You ran away to marry her. I can't believe I didn't understand that until now." The satisfaction of her falsely revelatory moment seemed to be brightening her mood and I did not want to correct her.

Saria noticed my silence, looked to me to respond, then spoke questioningly, "Am I right?"

"I did leave because of her. But she isn't my wife." I had to to tell Saria the truth, or at least, as much of the truth as needed immediate telling. Goddesses willing her true enlightenment would come in time.

She didn't look at all crestfallen, as I feared she might have. "Well, when I said 'wife'...You don't have to have to grovel before a judge of the Crown or seek the blessing of the Goddesses. That's not what makes a wife, that's not what's important. What matters is that you went to her. That you're together."

"That's true, Saria." I looked at her. I couldn't smile, although I wanted to, but I couldn't. Not in the torture chamber. But I nodded to her.

Her eyes narrowed, though. "Is that the whole story?"

There was no hiding anything from my only childhood friend. She always could read me like no other. Even if I were capable of lying to her she could tell that simple elopement wouldn't explain why I did what I did. "No."

"Don't tell me now."

The doctors were nearly done. "She's all right," said the ant doctor. "She was in shock from the treatment she'd endured but physically she's all there. She can stand." Zelda was indeed on her feet. The medics had tied some of their linen around her chest and waist for modesty, not that Zelda was or is in general uncomfortable about her body. I went to her, took her hands, but she did not need my support, though she held me nonetheless.

"Link..." she spoke haltingly around her bandages. "Is that-"

"Yes. That's Saria."

"You said...her hair was green." Zelda looked rather downcast. I couldn't help but feel the same dejection. Saria had changed with the forest.

Strangely, Saria smiled. Perhaps the reminder of her past was welcome and not painful. "It was. Back when he was sending you those letters. It..." She looked into the middle distance in reminiscence of those better days. "The green will come back someday."

Saria approached Zelda and shook her hand. Zelda bent down courteously to accommodate Saria's height. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, my name is..." She hesitated, then went on: "In his letters Link must have told you I am Saria. But I abandoned that name when the Gerudo struck. It was too dangerous for me to hold on to that identity in public view."

She looked at the medics with some nervousness. They weren't eavesdropping, just talking softly to each other about medical matters. Even so Saria lowered her voice.

"The situation here is complex. I am not the only one here who could claim leadership over the stronghold. The power structure you knew is gone, Link. So few of the Kokiri you knew survived. Those few who did are the only ones who might recognize the name Saria, and I've kept close tabs on them. Some of them actually think I'm dead."

Saria wiped her face with her sleeves. "This bastion is composed mostly of Kokiri from other parts of the forest. You wouldn't know them. Not all of them accept my voice as the voice that speaks for us all." She looked at us sadly. "Not all here will accept you."

I had nothing to say, so Saria offered, "We should go to my chambers to commiserate."

"Agreed," I said. Zelda nodded her agreement. The three of us set off at a generously slow pace. For me the torture had been nothing-the wounds would quickly heal, and I deal easily with temporal pain by recalling the agony of lava smeared across my flesh, Skulltulas eating me alive, or any of the other disasters that had befallen me in my life of adventure. For Zelda, however, the experience had been-must have been-shattering. She was having trouble keeping up at anything but a slow pace.

Saria asked her, "I think Link mentioned your name in passing...but it has escaped me, madam."

Zelda's lip twitched in a brief smile but her wound prohibited a true gesture of friendliness. "I'm Zelda."

"Zelda..." Saria repeated. I was not sure what she might have been contemplating.

We reached a large courtyard, open to the slate-gray sky, and crossed it. "Over there is our greenhouse, behind the double doors. You can visit there soon, it will help you recover.

"What's a greenhouse?" I asked. Zelda made a noise as though she could explain, being a woman of exceptional wisdom. Saria of course could as well but she waved Zelda off. "It's easiest to just show. But it's busy right now with gardeners so I will give you the tour later. For now, we'll talk in private."

Saria approached a statue. In a macabre twist a stone copy of a Deku Baba loomed from the snowy ground. Why a sculpture of one of those horrid things was here eluded me, unless perhaps a live one had somehow here been petrified. Saria reached into its mouth and pushed a tooth.

What had looked like a snow-filled empty fountain bed to our left rumbled. The floor of the fountain dropped concentrically in lockstep to form a spiral staircase down to a secret door. Saria led us there and, after climbing a ladder down a central shaft, we were in her study.

Once we were all in, the door closed and more rumbling told us that the stairs were retracting. "There are many secrets in this place," Saria said. "This is the one I'm taking advantage of."

The chamber was full of shelves of books, writing desks and chairs, a cupboard and some dishes, all sized for Kokiri. But the room itself was not sized for one of Kokiri stature, being as it was a room in the ancient Forest Temple. Zelda and I had plenty of room here, with the ceiling several inches above my head. Neither of us could easily use her writing desk or sleep in the Kokiri-sized bed in the corner of the room, however.

"You two are free to come and go as you please, but it may not be safe. Here is the safest place I can offer you," she said with an apologetic tone.

"How not safe?" I asked.

"Let's not get into that now. Link, you have to tell me...everything, what's happened in these seven years to you. I..."

"You've every right," I answered her. "I can start at the very beginning..."

"No, first tell me...Zelda is not a common name. I can think of only one woman of note with that name. That being the infamous Princess who-"

"-disappeared," said the Princess in question, "along with a mysterious assassin and kidnapper, the day that the Gerudo emissary was slain, seven years ago."

A cold silence fell as both Saria and I looked at the other woman in the room. In my mind Zelda's tone had not betrayed the truth. She had delivered the conclusion to Saria's speculation with the tone of a report, and not a confession.

"Yes, that's right," Saria said. I was not sure but I thought suspicion might have been lurking on the fringe of her words. "It is an uncommon name but then again, mothers across the kingdom might well name their baby daughters after a princess. But Link...on the very day you left to meet this woman, the Zelda that you knew through letters..."

"Yes," I said heavily. "The same day I left you, the Gerudo leader was stabbed in the back. The Gerudo were thrown into chaos from which arose Verletz the Archon, who would not allow the insult to go unpunished. And from that day's events sprang the whole of the present state of war and ruin."

Saria had seated us on cushions in the round in a sort of small shallow circular pit, which made a nice sort of den in the center of the chamber. Zelda was lying propped up on many cushions, relaxing. She seemed weak and exhausted, but clearly the restful arrangement was doing her good.

"Both of you know your history," Saria said.

"Yes," said Zelda with tremendous weariness and just a bit sardonically, "Our history."

Saria did not fail to pick up on her implication. "What are you..."

"Saria," I said. She looked at me. "I had to leave you that day because this woman, Zelda, sent me a letter. She asked me to come and I knew it was the right thing to do. Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule."

"Yes, she was, but-" Saria was saying, when realization dawned. "No."

"I am the one who went to the castle, Saria. I killed Ganondorf."

Saria's face went blank with shock staring at me.

"I killed him and I escaped, but Zelda followed me. She came with me."

Zelda put a hand atop mine and murmured, "You came with me. We went, together."

Saria's lips parted slowly. "What." As it was when she said it to Seeliya, she spoke the word not as a question. This time it was a statement of dull disbelief.

"Have you heard..." Zelda said, raising her arm. "Of the Triforce? The mark upon the back of the hand..."

"The Princess was born with it," Saria said. "They said it was a mark of wisdom." As Zelda raised her hand, the faint mark was visible in the soft lamplight.

"By the spirits." Saria drew back, the proof there. "You...are truly Princess Zelda. Who was lost seven years ago."

"And I'm the man who took her away."

Saria sat silently for a while, taking it all in. Surprisingly, she addressed Zelda, not me. Anger was seeping into her voice as shock wore off. "Why did you summon him to assassinate your Gerudo rival? Why...why him? He was a child in the forest, it's nonsensical."

"Saria, I can explain..." I tried to intervene.

"NO!" Saria yelped. She had abruptly begun to percieve a threat. "I'm talking to this so-called Princess of Hyrule. She's accountable for..." Saria paused. Zelda was too worn out to do more than raise her head. She was resting feebly on the pillows and Saria was drawing closer, aggressively.

"...She took you away! WHY? Why'd you want Ganondorf dead, why did you manipulate Link into being your hitman?! You were colluding the whole time. All those letters..." I was afraid at this point she was going to physically threaten Zelda.

"Saria please!" I tried to grasp her by the shoulders but she whipped her head around and shot me a look of supreme, frigid resentment. The wildness in her cold blue eyes was terrifying to me knowing that they belonged to the warm and vibrant friend of my youth. It shook me and I backed off.

"I get the sense you've read the letters I wrote to him," Zelda said by way of answer.

"I left them behind," I followed up. "Not in plain sight, but not hidden either."

The sudden look of guilt that tempered the anger on Saria's face answered Zelda's question. She murmured sadly, "I just wanted to know..."

"...the truth," Zelda finished. "Of course. I'm sure Link doesn't begrudge you your curiosity."

I nodded.

"The truth you seek," Zelda went on, "is that I turned to Link because no one else could possibly help me. But since you have read my missives, and my last missive, you know that I only summoned him. Link did what he had to, I did not make him do it. I didn't put the blade in his hand."

Saria turned to me, becoming riled up again. "Is...that...true?"

"Yes," I said firmly. "Zelda warned me of what would happen if I went through with it, but I did it anyway. I asked her to stay behind. She chose not to."

Saria shook her head, trying to understand it all. "Why in the name of all Hyrule would the Princess collude with a fairy child to murder the Gerudo ambassador and start a ruinous war?"

I offered my hand to Saria rather than trying to touch her again. Hesitantly, she put her much smaller hand in mine.

I said to her, "I want you to try and keep an open mind about what I, we, are telling you, what we're going to tell you. I'm your childhood friend and I want to try and impress on you that I'm not insane or being manipulated by Zelda or anyone else. She's the Princess, she too is sane and trustworthy."

"Link our relationship is worth a lot, but you have to admit that murdering the Gerudo made you look crazy," Saria said, flustered.

"I did it because of what had happened before I left. The full story."

"I know what you WERE doing, I want to hear about what happened AFTER you left," Saria complained. "It's been seven years..."

"That's the thing," Zelda said. "We weren't exactly continuously on the run for seven years. In fact there's no story to tell there."

"What do you-"

"Let me explain from the beginning," I offered, "and then you might understand why my sanity warning was justified. There's a legend in Hyrule that speaks of an evil so great that it transcends time, and a hero for all time that must rise to keep this evil in check."

"I'm not familiar with many Hyrulian legends," Saria mentioned.

"That's all right, just remember that this legend has very serious implications. This Hero of Time is fated to fight the great recurrent evil for control of the greatest prize, the Triforce."

"The Triforce?" Saria queried. "I have heard of that. And the three Goddesses it symbolizes."

"Like the mark on my hand," Zelda added.

"So what does this hero have to do with your childhood in Kokiri?"

"Saria, please believe me when I say that-" I started.

"He is that hero. Link is the Hero of Time," Zelda said for me, bluntly. Her saying it was perhaps better than me.

"What do you mean? Legends are just legends."

"No, legends are my life. Think back to the day I left. Imagine that instead of leaving as I did, the circumstances had been somewhat different. I still left, but it wasn't as abrupt."

"Okay. But you didn't..."

"I did. From that departure I embarked on an entirely different adventure from what I have endured now. I crossed all over Hyrule and eventually crossed time, growing seven years older in a sort of stasis."

"What? This was after you killed the Gerudo with the Princess?"

"No, before. Well, sort of before. After. Look..." It was so hard to explain my double life, my return to the past. "Imagine that on the day I departed I were to have a daydream, about departing. In that daydream, the Gerudo lord, Ganondorf, was scheming to overthrow the rule of law and fill the land with monstrous darkness. Princess Zelda reached out to me to help stop his evil ambition. I had a grand adventure and grew to adulthood, passing great trials."

"You met Zelda...in a daydream?"

I looked at Zelda and she smiled. "It might as well be a daydream now."

"I met Zelda again after the final battle," I continued. "By the time our war was won I was a grown man, sculpted by hardship. She offered me innocence. She sent us both back in time, with memories intact. We went back to our childhoods and began again, carrying the secret of that alternate, potential history of Hyrule away with us and undoing it. It's as if the daydream ended, and I picked up with my life's true story."

"Link..." Saria looked very skeptical. "You and the Princess both had some kind of hallucination...together? You lived a vicarious lifetime in which you met, conveniently ending with you being sent back to he beginning, then woke up unchanged but still somehow connected?"

"That's why we were corresponding. I believe that I truly did experience my first quest. That it is the true narrative of my life, that it adds to my mental age and the age of my soul, even if my body became that of a child once more and cannot remember by itself. I remember it as clearly and chronologically as all my other experiences, just like you or I remember yesterday and the day before. Time travel is difficult for us to reconcile."

"The Hero of Time..." Saria said. Her look of skepticism softened. "You always were special."

"He is," Zelda said.

"Zelda used the limitless power of the Triforce to send us back to childhood. She sent me back home to you."

Saria looked from me to Zelda, her body language making her gratitude evident.

"But as I said, it was back in time. Back up the river," I went on. "And if you go back upriver, the river still flows. It will still carry you inexorably back to where you wanted to escape from, if you don't change your course."

"Are you saying..." Saria began. "I...I don't understand."

"The same series of events that led to the disaster began anew, the same warning signs that once failed to warn us in time. We thought that Ganondorf had been sealed away forever. But he rose again. We had reversed time but it was playing out again, unchanged, the wicked man we had sealed away now unsealed. I could not let it happen: I couldn't make the same mistakes again, I couldn't let the tragedy play out the same way."

Saria was deep in thought. I continued, "The first time through, when events were playing out, I did not slay Ganondorf while he knelt before the King. Only a pane of colored glass stood between us, and he lived, to commit deeds of the blackest evil and ruin the land. So when he threatened the world again, I did not take that chance. I killed him in cold blood."

"You...Ganondorf was an evil mastermind?" Saria said quizzically. We both nodded. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. Here in this...timeline...he's a martyr. Your unprovoked attack was impossible for Hyrule to explain. The security breach was unforgivable. And the Princess's disappearance further threw the court into chaos."

"You must believe us," Zelda said. "Ganondorf is a monster the likes of which the world has never seen. Not even Verletz's sorcerous power is equal to his destructive capability. The world now, riven as it is by war, is still not as devastated as it had been when Ganondorf ruled it from his dark throne."

"This alternate future, this Ganondorf doomsday..." Saria mused.

"That's how I became the Hero of Time. That doomsday came to pass."

"Alright, so after this first quest you had to act to prevent it happening again. You and the Princess fled. But you said seven years passed uneventfully. How is that possible?"

I looked to Zelda, with her erudition and (I must admit) greater eloquence, to answer and she obliged. "At the holy Temple of Time, behind a Door guarded by three Spiritual Stones, is the pedestal in whose slot rests the sacred Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane. It is forged for the Hero of Time and none other, a blade of light to cut down the darkness." As Zelda spoke these words I drew the blade from its scabbard with a sustained metallic scraping sound. Its blue-gray steel, still chill from the cold of the outside air, shimmered in the soft candlelight. I held it near Saria hilt-first.

"That sword..." Saria was genuinely impressed. "The workmanship, the details in the hilt and the pommel, the engravings on the blade, its edge...its caftsmanship's incredible. Superhuman."

"Does it help you to believe our story?" I asked hopefully.

"Well, maybe parts of your story," she answered, "What about the sword and the pedestal?"

"The sword is a key and the pedestal is a lock," spoke Zelda. "They unlock a conduit."

"To where?"

"To when," I said. "It took me seven years into the future. As it had before, in my first quest. That's how I survived unscathed when the world was plunged into Ganondorf's mad dystopia. But then for the second pass, that is how the princess and I escaped detection for seven years."

"Wait. Wait." Saria simply thought quietly for a moment and her confusion was understandable. "You're saying that for seven years you were hiding in some kind of temple?"

"Yes," Zelda said, quickly. I got the sense that she wanted to preempt me trying to explain anything further or in more detail. Whether it was a security concern of hers, or whether she simply thought Saria's brain could use a rest, I'm not sure.

We sat quietly for about a minute before Saria spoke again. "All right. So when did you come out of hiding?"

"A few months ago. Half a year maybe," I replied. I honestly couldn't remember with more precision.

"That would have been..." Saria paused to think. "Just a bit before the Battle of Death Mountain. Is that right?" I nodded.

Saria approached me. "Link, I want to hear all the details of what you've been doing since you emerged from hiding. But first..." I was seated and so my face was on her shoulder level; she put one of her hands on my left cheek, her fingers just below the bottom of my eyepatch. "I have to know how...this happened."

I blinked. "Oh." Strange as it seems I had nearly forgotten about the missing eye. "You mentioned the Battle of Death Mountain, you recall?"

Saira looked flabbergasted. "You don't mean..."

"We were there, fighting," Zelda said. "He was hit by an arrow. By the grace of the Goddesses he lived, but..."

"...No..." Saria was dumbfounded. She shook her head. "You fought alongside the Princess of Hyrule in a pitched battle against the Gerudo on the slopes of Death Mountain. And you lost an eye to an arrow."

"Yes," I said. "Bombs, swords, maces, exploding Dodongos."

Saria's mouth hung agape and there was really nothing more to say. Eventually she went on, "I know how horrible it was, we were there."

"You mean Sylvan Liberators?" I asked. "There were a smattering of men dressed in the same type of clothes that people say they wear. Archers, rangers, scouts mostly."

"There were some of the humans who claim to be Liberators there," Saria said. "But I meant us, the Kokiri. The real Sylvan Liberators."

"Real?" I repeated.

"Yes, real. I don't know what your dealings with them have been...how much you know...I will have to explain things in greater detail later. First though, bring me up to the present. You actually fought alongside the Gorons? As an auxiliary?"

Zelda interrupted. "Hold on, explain in what capacity the actual Kokiri participated in the battle."

"Didn't the Gorons have detailed knowledge of how many Gerudo were encamped there, how prepared they were, when their patrols came and went?" Saria reeled off with a gleam in her eye. "That was me, and mine. The best the Kokiri have to offer." Her pride was obvious.

"I see," I said to her.

"If you're looking for more grisly details, we were knives out during the siege itself."

"You personally were at that battle?!" I exclaimed.

"No, no, by that point I had to withdraw for security. My operatives remained. Not all of them came back."

"We never saw..." Zelda began.

Saria looked at her hard and steady. "Of course not." She left it at that and said to me, "Continue, you were Goron auxiliaries..."

"We'd gotten in good with a Goron lieutenant," I explained. "We had sought shelter among their kind and then the Gerudo provoked the battle. We had to fight, there was no choice."

"I see. But Link, only weeks later there was a terrible catastrophe..."

"The earthquake, Verletz's doing, and the dragon," Zelda said. "Volvagia. A monster from the past. In fact, it was a monster than Link had faced before, in our first quest. The Gerudo summoned it, woke it up."

"What?" exclaimed Saria. "I thought the dragon was a guardian of the mountain. The Geurdo claimed that the Gorons awakened it recklessly."

"And you believed them?" asked Zelda.

"Of course I didn't believe Gerudo high command, but that's just what they said." Saria started suddenly as though she had made a revelation. "Then...wait. My scouts reported that three people-a Goron and two Hylians..."

"That was us," I said. "And the lieutenant."

"YOU fought and slew the dragon Volvagia?" asked Saria incredulously.

"Yes."

"Your story is more and more incredible by the moment," she said. "Next you'll tell me that..."

"...We traveled from the battleground where Volvagia fell directly to the besieged city of Kakariko, where we infiltrated the blockade and assisted in repelling the Gerudo assault that took place days later?" Zelda said, with the small snort of a repressed giggle at the end. It did sound pretty hilariously improbable.

"You..." Saria looked at our faces. It was clear Zelda had giggled at the outrageousness of the truth, and not because of deception. "You're serious. Weeks after losing your eye to the Gerudo and then slaying a monster of legend, you survived a city assault in which the dead rose from their graves?!" she shrieked.

"I have had quite the life," I said blithely.


	22. Chapter 22

"Link, that's crazy. _WHY?_" Saria demanded. "Why did you take a Princess into battle? Why did you go to Death Mountain, which was being besieged by the Gerudo, in the first place? And when that decision ended in disaster and a missing eye, you stopped on the way to fight a _dragon _and then fled to a _different _town besieged by the Gerudo! You traded a fire-breathing dragon for a legion of skeletons! I _know _you're telling the truth because you'd never tell me such an insane, implausible lie, so WHY?"

"The path I've taken so far seems crazy, I'm sure, but I am not acting without a plan," I tried to explain.

"Is your plan to try and single-handedly turn the tide of the war by participating in every pertinent battle and then kill Verletz?" she said throwing her hands in the air.

"Yes," I said. "No," said Zelda, at almost the exact same moment. But she continued,"Our plan is to unite Hyrule against him. To help leaders emerge who together will destroy him."

Saria thought for a second at our two simultaneous answers. "The Princess is wise. You're as brave and silly as you always have been Link..." She chuckled a little, grinning, before shaking her head ruefully. "That's probably how...damn it all, Link, it's how you lost your eye!"

"...what?" I gawped.

"You're _crippled,_" she said in a severe tone. "That's not an insult. I'm not mocking your weakness. It's the objective truth. It's not that you're hurt, it hurts me...just knowing about it..."

"Saria..."

"What you've put yourself and the Princess through, becoming murders and exiles and time-traveling bearers of unimaginable burdens, all chasing some kind of legend, all working off of some kind of...shared premonition-"

"It was my LIFE!" I shouted. It was certainly not the first time I had been upset with Saria-our friendship was too close for that to have never happened-but I didn't expect it would happen after meeting her again like this. But I wasn't backing down from this as I continued: "It was real. It happened. I lived through it, fought, bled, and killed. Just because...just because those events didn't happen _this _time, to you and nearly everyone else, doesn't mean that I don't bear the legacy of that time. I'm marked by it forever. Do you know my age?"

Saria looked at me, looked up and down at me, and looked away. A tiny bit of color was on her pale cheeks. "N-not really Link. I think you were about ten, eleven or twelve when you left."

"A few months before I left, or at least when you, the you sitting here now, remembers me leaving...then, I was about 11 years old. That was when the timelines diverge. At that point, to you, it would seem another day passed uneventfully. But that was the day that I returned. The point on the river I came back to after seven years downstream. And so on that day, at least in my mind and my soul, I aged seven years. The burden of memory crashed down onto me and a vicarious lifetime took its place in my brain."

"Link, that's...but then..."

"I lived with you in Kokiri for a few months. That's when I started getting and sending letters."

"I remember."

"And then I had to leave once more. I was called."

"And now, it's seven years more," Saria said. "So your age...your real age..."

"Twenty-five, putting both timelines together?" I said. "Eighteen, ignoring one of the seven-year jumps? Or am I still, after everything, just a little boy in a one-eyed hero's body? I'm afraid I really don't know either. I am a temporal orphan."

"Link..."

I looked into her eyes with plaintive sadness. "I don't care if everything I've told you seems crazy. We've been through a lot but we're here and we've reached you, now, and ultimately none of it matters. It's in the past."

"The PAST?" Saria blurted. "You claim this whole scenario...everything that's wrong with the world, really...exists because YOU wanted to CHANGE the past, to go back and fix it."

"But we couldn't," interjected Zelda.

"What? The man's dead," Saria answered. "Ganondorf." Her tone turned bitter. "You killed him and didn't care about the cost."

"And the evil remained," I said morosely. "It arose in Verletz and the world is wracked with strife, ruined much as Ganondorf left Hyrule after seven years. There are some things that cannot be changed."

Zelda continued, "We traveled time only to find that in the end, only details can be changed easily. Great archetypes, pivotal events, powerful forces of light and darkness...these cannot be altered through the divergence of time's river."

"Such was our folly," I said. "But I cannot regret it."

"Some stones at the riverbed can be shifted about, take up new positions to help shape the flow of the river of time. But some stones are too big. They change the flow. Force it to bend around them, alter by their will. We are such individuals."

"What do you mean, we? You and Link?" asked Saria.

"I mean everyone in this room."

"Including ME?" Saria cried out. "Stones, rivers, time, you speak only in metaphors! The Kokiri are the finest cryptographers in Hyrule, or we were, until you and your clarity-inhibitors you call mouths came along. Is there no plainer way to tell me..." she trailed off dejectedly.

"Saria, I can only ask you to take me, and the precious Princess of Hyrule, as we are. For what we are, now."

Saria answered slowly. "Which is?"

"A country boy grown into a swordsman, and the Princess of Hyrule, wise and keen with arrows. Outlaws, partisans. Destiny's scarred and battered playthings. Cold, starving, but useful travelers who have turned up on your doorstep."

"What you are, is my oldest friend," Saria responded. "The only real friend I had...have...left. But you, and the Princess, are also a huge new unknown factor."

"Meaning...?"

"Your presence in the Temple could throw the balance of power here into chaos," said Saria gravely.

"We won't cause trouble..." Zelda started to say.

"You won't have to. It shouldn't have escaped your notice that you're the only ones here who aren't Kokiri. Not by bloodline in any case." Saria suddenly gasped in chagrin. "Link, oh no, what I just said..."

"I know, Saria," I told her.

"You were...told?" Saria looked at me in astonishment. "I only heard, at the last...from the Deku Tree, before he was..."

"When I first saved the world, I was told I am not a Kokiri, only that I was raised here as an orphan."

"What happened to Kokiri Forest, in your first vision quest?"

"It was wracked with darkness and monsters. You had nearly fallen victim to them. But I helped Kokiri recover and regrow. The Deku Tree perished...as it has this time. But a new one sprouted, and it was he who told me of my heritage and my destiny."

"So in Ganondorf's evil timeline...there was hope for Kokiri?" She wore a small but hopeful smile.

"Of course, as there is hope now. Healing came then and it will come now, soon."

"I've always known that, Link. I just never thought that you would be here to see it."

"There's one last thing that perhaps we should explain," said Zelda cautiously. "I know, there's a lot that we've imparted on you just now in a short time."

"I...I will tell her, Zelda. Later. I think you should rest."

Zelda did not look pleased to have to abandon a discussion like this, but I could tell that between her aching body and the mental trauma she had endured, she needed some time of complete rest. And when she acquiesced and laid her head down with closed eyes she was quickly looking more and more comfortably asleep.

"Saria, would you like to show me around the grounds, or whatever of it you think is safe?" I said in a low voice.

"I would like to keep talking with you, Link, but we can't talk about anything worth talking about while wandering the halls."

"Could we speak privately in the greenhouse? I just want to leave her alone here to rest, so we don't disturb her."

"All right. She'll be safe here."

"Don't worry, Saria. She can defend herself quite well if anything _does _go wrong."

She looked at me strangely. "You have that kind of faith in the capabilities of a noblewoman?"

"Yes. She will surprise you."

Saria took me back to where we had came in, and pulled a small handle on the wall. This activated the stairs again and let us leave.

"The greenhouse is just over here." Once we were in the courtyard with the statue and fountain she pointed across to an archway the led to another open room. "Actually...are you hungry for fruit or vegetables?"

"Now that you mention it, I'm hungry for...anything, really. So what's a greenhouse?"

"Why don't I show you?" Saria said. She led me through the archway to another open transit area, then through a door. Outside, in the open courtyard, snow was still falling in its perpetual frozen onslaught against the ground. As the door closed behind me, however, I was greeted by a wall of moist heat comparable to the underground Goron hot springs.

Saria had brought me to a huge atrium full of warm, wet air and abundant cultivated plants. The ceiling of the large vault was made of several angled planes of clear glass, through which the dull orb of the sun above was visible through the cloudy skies. Rows and rows of plants were on hand, arranged efficiently in stepped triangular rows. Where structural beams interrupted the clear glass ceiling, the clever gardeners took advantage of them to anchor hanging pots with even more plants. The room, more a warehouse, was so large that I felt in total privacy with Saria even though I could see that a few other Kokiri were coming and going elsewhere among the groves of trees and rows of crops.

I turned to Saria, smiling in amazement, and all I could say was "Wow!" All around me I recognized crops of staple vegetables, vines heavy with delicious berries, fruit trees growing in exposed patches of soil where the temple's flagstones were removed. "How does..."

"Even on a cloudy day in the cold of this eternal winter, the sun is shining down through this big glass roof. Even though it's freezing cold outside, the sun is still sending warm light to the ground and it's captured in here."

"The plants really get all the light they need through the roof window? And it stays this warm just from the feeble rays of the sun?"

Saria nodded and smiled with some small pride. "It's quite remarkable. The Forest Temple is very old and the purpose of all its rooms is not obvious. I don't know if this one was meant to be set up this way, but we figured out it can be used for agriculture."

"That's ingenious." I walked with Saria for a ways through the verdant chamber, stopping by a healthy orange tree. "Oranges as fine as the king's orchard, in the depths of the frozen forest," I thought out loud in awe of the achievement.

"Fate is so strange," answered Saria. "This greenhouse we've created, one of the few in all Hyrule, has saved us from starvation and malnutrition after the forest froze. It's an amazing accomplishment that was born from a terrible tragedy." She stared at the orange tree in thought.

"Tragedy is what prepares the soil to grow seeds of greatness," I said to her as I approached the tree.

"Have one," she said brightly, "you said you were hungry."

I couldn't argue with that, so I picked an orange and peeled it. The aroma and the tangy sweet citrus flavor of the first bite-after months of dining mostly on fare such as Goron rations, wild game and trail mix-were fantastically refreshing.

"Mmm. Saria, this is what I've learned from trying to change the past. One small event will change so much that it's impossible to ever really change just one thing. Ganondorf's life or premature death split my life into two futures, and this is one of them. In the other this temple was a lair of terrible monsters and restless ghosts, now there's enough plants to keep you fed and healthy."

"Monsters?" said Saira. "The wolves of the forest don't live in here. Never did. Other than natural beasts there was never anything sinister..."

"Ganondorf's evil touched every corner of Hyrule." I saw an orange with a blemish on it hanging near my head as I finished the pristine one I had been enjoying. "He was a disease that would have spread to sicken the whole world."

"Worse, then, than war. Than Verletz and his cruelty." She faced me. "Than everything he's inflicted on Hyrule. Is that what you believe?" I couldn't tell if Saria's tone was severe or sympathetic. Usually her emotions were no trouble for me to read but it was as though she herself wasn't sure how to feel.

I tried to communicate my own feelings in my steadfast gaze at her. Her eyes were clouded by uncertainty but I tried to project an unmissable air of purpose in my own. "When Zelda sent me her last letter she said, 'You must hurry. You know what to do.' You interpreted it as her orders to me to act as her assassin."

Saria nodded. "And you did."

"Not her assassin. Not by anyone's will but my own. I chose then and there that I would kill Ganondorf in cold blood, that I would never give that...that monster in human flesh a chance to do what he did to the world. I knew that even if the world was made worse by my actions, I could not live with myself not to try. Nor could I allow the same events to occur again when that suffering, that ruinous evil, could be averted."

"I understand...what you think you have done, Link." She took hold of my hand to lead me away to another part of the greenhouse. "Your reasoning is sound for relying on such unbelievable evidence."

Suddenly, I remembered something that Saria had mentioned offhandedly earlier. "Wait. Back in your chamber you were telling us about how the Kokiri spied on the Gerudo and helped at the battle."

"Yeah...?"

"I always thought that Kokiri...true Kokiri...couldn't leave the forest."

"That was true," she answered, "or at least I believe it was back before. Of course it wasn't something we wanted to test. But..."

"But what?"

Saria looked up at the gloomy sky above and the dull halo of the sun. "When the snows came it must have broken whatever hold the forest had on us. We could, can, leave. It's as though..." She trailed off.

I looked at her questioningly until she said, "It's like it wanted us to leave. I mean it froze over. Nothing can live out there. The forest wanted us, and everyone else, to freeze and die and leave and never return."

"Don't say that," I told her. "I know it seems that way, but the forest only did this in self-defense. It's waiting."

"Yes," she sighed, as we walked through a row of berry bushes. "Waiting for spring. When war and suffering have gone and we can have peace again." She picked a berry and popped it in her mouth.

"It's waiting for a champion," I said to her with conviction. She looked up at me quizzically. "This is what Zelda wanted to tell you before. The last thing I need to tell you, the last part of my whole crazy tale."

Saria and I sat down together on a bench, and she slowly shook her head as she asked, "Can you just...run the whole thing by me again? A summary. And then add the final piece of the puzzle."

"I am the Hero of Time," I began, "and seven years ago I saved the world from Ganondorf with the help of Princess Zelda."

Saria nodded. "And then, you say, you went back in time, and now you're on a new adventure."

I nodded back at her and went on, "This new adventure is playing out much like the first. It's fate. It's destiny. It's a sort of..." I struggled for words, wishing I could borrow Zelda's Triforce and have the wisdom to elucidate her. "There are eternal archetypes." Saria looked rather blank. "You said you didn't want metaphors."

"No, no, I think I understand what you're getting at. You're saying that the dream-quest, the first quest, the alternate timeline or whatever it is-that was prophetic of the events you've witnessed so far."

I was impressed at her intuition. "That's basically right. So my quest thus far...the crazy, dangerous things I've done, the people I've befriended, and the battles I've fought-have all been trying to duplicate the first quest's success. To use the same basic formula that worked before."

"And you think it'll work again?" she asked.

"I know it will. It's the only way."

"So what is this way? What was the key to defeating the tyrant Ganondorf?"

"The Sages," I said.

She did not register any strong emotion. "The Sages? What are they?"

"They were people that I met along my journey, those whom I helped. Then, when seven years elapsed, they repaid my help to them, and helped me. Their help was critical."

"How so?"

"They are magic. They represent sacred Medallions which themselves embody the great forces and spheres of influence that govern Hyrule. In essence, the Seven Sages are the guardians of Hyrule. Their combined power defeated the monster that lurked in Ganondorf's skin."

"...What? Okay, so your plan is to find these Sages. You think they can help you."

"They have."

"You mean you've already..." Saria looked rather surprised. "You've met some already? Witnessed their power?"

"Yes. I mean I did in my first quest, but I have already...awakened two of them."

"By 'awaken' you mean..." she began.

"As before, in my first quest, the Sages were normal people with special destinies. In the course of helping me, they perform great deeds and awaken to their heroic potential. In doing so they unlock the knowledge and powers of their Sagehood. Forever afterward they are the guardian of that domain and the wielder of its power."

"What domains?"

"So far I have awakened the Sage of Fire, a Goron, and the Sage of Shadow, a woman of Kakariko."

"So that's...that's why you went to Death Mountain, and Kakariko, even though it was so dangerous," she deduced. "To find these Sages."

"More or less. And it's why I've come here."

"You think there's a Sage here?"

"I know it. Because I know the identities of all the Sages, already."

"Wait, WHAT?" she erupted.

"They're all the same as they were the first time. Remember the analogy of pebbles in the river? Stones too great to be moved..."

"...who alter the course of the stream, instead of flowing with it," she remembered. "In a way, they're what give the stream its character. What really...in this analogy...shape history."

"Exactly. So I already know that the Sage of Forest is here."

"Who?" she asked eagerly.

I wasn't sure what to say next for a moment. "When I said that all three of us in that room-me, you, and the Princess-were of utmost importance..."

"You don't mean-"

"It's you."

She looked at me long and hard. "You're saying that I'm...a Sage? I have magical powers, hidden knowledge, that will be the key to Verletz's downfall?"

"Yes. If you had been killed I...I have no idea what I would have done. The mantle of your Sagehood would have been passed to another, one I might never have found."

"Good job I'm alive then," she deadpanned. "But I don't _feel_ like anything important."

"As I have said...it must be awakened."

"Then...how? You've told me, is that not enough?"

"No," I said. "Regrettably, it seems not."

"Then what did the trick," she asked, "for the two that you've awakened already? For that matter, since you said that I..." she trailed off and put a hand over her lips in contemplation, and then finally said, "How did you...awaken me...in this other timeline?"

"You had been spirited away to the Forest Temple, which Ganondorf had corrupted. Only by rescuing you and purging that evil were you shown your destiny."

"That's not going to work. There's no evil or corruption here that's not wrought by the hands of our own kind," Saria explained with sadness.

"The first quest was only a blueprint for this one, only a sketch. The details will not be the same. Nonetheless I have the highest confidence-you could call it faith-that somehow you and I will undertake trials similar enough to those that worked the first time. You will become a Sage. You have to."

She scowled, revealing her clenched teeth. "I...can't! How? How am I supposed to do this?" Her exasperation was clear.

"Don't worry about it," I reassured her. "It will come. If I was able to awaken two Sages who were strangers, distrustful of me and my motives, then surely awakening my best friend will be painless by comparison."

"From what it sounds like you've described," Saria said gloomily, "there is no enlightenment without pain."

"That's...that's true enough," I conceded. "All the Sages in my first quest, and those I've encountered so far, have earned their awakening with sweat and blood."

"I'm not afraid to pay that kind of price," she stated. "If it can help you, somehow...even if only in helping your peace of mind..."

"It will certainly do that if nothing else," I assured her. "By the way...whatever happened to Mido, anyway?"

"He...I hope you weren't planning on meeting him," Saria said in a strange mixture of lightheartedness and remorse.

"He's...?"

"He was planning to capitulate, to surrender to the Gerudo in exchange for his life. Naturally, he mouthed off and they killed him," she continued. I wasn't sure at all how she actually felt about this, but I definitely detected a hint of relief as she recounted the tale.

"Well...can't say I'm surprised."

Just then a group of Kokiri rounded a row of shrubbery and came into view. Both of us turned simultaneously to look. None of them were familiar to me. Two were forgettable but one, a raven-haired man with a scarred chin and piercing dark eyes, seemed the instigator. He pointed at me.

"Here he is. I knew I saw an outsider on his way to the Temple."

Saria stood immediately, but I did not. I'm not sure why, it might have been that I wanted to project a non-threatening demeanor.

"He's not an outsider," Saira said to the man.

One of his cronies growled, "What's gotten into you?" The other piped up, "Is he Liberator?"

"I told you," Saria said pointedly. "He's not an outsider."

The scarred one scowled. "He's six feet tall, don't be coy with me. Who the hell is he?"

"A friend of the Kokiri. That's all you need to know."

"He should be put to death for what he knows." At this, I took to my feet. The hostile Kokiri watched me rise to my full height, but registered no fear.

"That's not for you to decide," Saria said sternly.

"And I suppose it's for you, alone?"

"I didn't say that."

"Put him back in chains," one of his subordinates demanded.

"We'll moot this," the black-haired one said, waving his underlings off. "If you don't show..."

"I'll show. But the moot can't make me..."

"We'll see what we can and can't do, White." With that, the Kokiri trio turned and left. But before he hove out of sight, their leader called back, "If we catch him trying to escape, we'll kill him."

Once they were gone Saria gave me a reassuring glance and asked, "Are you all right?"

"Am _I _all right? Are you?"

"We're fine." She started off back the way we came, and I followed. We headed for the exit and although Saria surely wanted me not to worry, it was clear she was now trying to get me back to her safe room posthaste.

"Rynoff must have blabbed to him," I heard Saria mutter. "I knew that twit had no loyalty."

We made it safely back to the courtyard with the secret fountain, but several more Kokiri spotted us on the way. This hardly would bother me in almost any other circumstances, but already it was very clear what Saria had meant by the danger of this place.

We made it safely back to Saria's study, the staircase grinding back into place to complete the fountain disguise. As I stepped forward into the dimly lit room, I immediately noticed something awry.

The cushions where Zelda had been resting were empty. "Where is she?!"


End file.
